Days lost to industrial disputes

IBISWorld forecasts the number of days lost to industrial disputes to decrease by 6.9% in 2024-25 to reach 117,000 days. The number of days lost to industrial disputes is typically highly volatile from year to year, as a small number of industrial disputes can contribute to a high number of days lost, depending on the number of workers involved and the number of days that they go on strike. Employees are less likely to take industrial action during an economic slowdown, as they are more concerned about job security than wage increases. For this reason, as business confidence and household disposable incomes rise in the previous and current year, employees become more comfortable participating in industrial disputes. This is projected to leave the number of days lost to industrial disputes higher than during the pandemic. The slowdown in the current year is a result of a slight overcorrection following a steep, significant rise in 2023-24, when disputes, particularly from the transport, postal and warehousing industry group came to the forefront. The primary dispute involved the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and DP World, one of the largest terminal operators in the country. This dispute focused on demands for higher wages, better working conditions and improved job security for workers at key shipping terminals. A four-year agreement was eventually reached in early 2024, which included a 23% wage increase over the contract period and additional provisions for worker safety and fatigue management . Furthermore, another notable event occurred in August 2024, significant protests erupted across major Australian cities as thousands of construction workers, including CFMEU members, opposed the government's mandated administration over the union's construction branch. They argued this move, prompted by corruption allegations, threatened worker pay and safety, disrupting traffic and construction activities.

The number of days lost is often concentrated in one or two industries or groups of industries in a given year. The transport and manufacturing industry groups, in descending order, commonly lead for the highest number of days lost, which is largely due to their high rates of unionisation and work accidents. The education, health and social assistance services industry group exhibits similar traits, as it is also highly unionised. The number of days lost in these three industry groups tends to work in cycles, ramping up during enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations. Due to the large number of workers affected, a dispute of just a few hours of strikes results in a large number of days lost.

The number of days lost to industrial disputes has been volatile over the past five years. However, there remains a long-term decline in the number of days lost to industrial disputes over the past several decades. Industrial action is more common in highly unionised industries. Falling unionisation rates resulting from a shift in the economy towards service-sector jobs that are less unionised, along with an increase in part-time and casual employment as well as contracting work, have placed downward pressure on the number of days lost to industrial disputes. Overall, IBISWorld forecasts the number of days lost to industrial disputes to climb at a compound annual rate of 26.9% over the five years through 2024-25 as the base year of 2019-20 had a major drop off in the wake of the pandemic reducing the rate of disputes and causing people to not work because of lockdowns instead of disputes.