ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION This study brings up to date a previously published survey of the period 1951-64.1 The continued interest in, and increased incidence of, work stoppages seems to justify the exercise. It remains true that the man-days lost per thousand workers in the economy due to stoppages of work is considerably lower than before the First World War, and that several other nations suffer more severely than the United Kingdom in this respect. More time is also lost through unemployment, absenteeism and short-time working than as a result of disputes. These losses, however, do not affect output, exports and the public’s well-being to anything like the same extent as strikes. Perhaps most important of all, they also differ in their effects from strikes in that they do not add impetus to wage-drift and inflationary pressure in the way that work stoppages so often do. Our intention is to provide a factual and quantitative examination of the work stoppages which occurred during the period. Detailed explanation of the data is beyond the scope of this work since it would require an intimate knowledge of the special characteristics of each of the industries studied.
