UK Lost Over 150,000 Working Days to Disputes in June and July

Closed platforms, during a rail workers strike, at London Waterloo railway station in London, UK, on Tuesday, June 21, 2022. UK rail workers began Britain's biggest rail strike in three decades on Tuesday after unions rejected a last-minute offer from train companies, bringing services nationwide to a near standstill. , Bloomberg

Mark Evans, Bloomberg News

Sep 29, 2022

Share

(Bloomberg) --

More than 150,000 working days were lost due to labor disputes across June and July, far above the pre-pandemic average, official figures show.

Some 70,500 days were lost in June, with the figure rising to 87,600 in July, largely due to stoppages in the transport and storage industries. In 2019, the monthly average was 19,500.

The UK continues to be beset by industrial action as workers seek to keep up with the highest inflation in four decades. Rail strikes are scheduled for Saturday, while dock workers at Felixstowe, the UK’s largest container port, began an eight day stoppage on Tuesday. Separately, postal workers at Royal Mail Plc announced plans for 19 days of walkouts in October and November.

The Office for National Statistics estimates are the first since the collection of labor disputes data was suspended in April 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak. The agency plans to resume monthly reporting from November.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.