Survey on Labour Disputes 2010
Digest of the Summary Report
"Disputes involving industrial action" improves on the record low , with 85 cases, with "disputes with no industrial action" also falling to 597 cases
25-Aug-2011 The results of the "Survey on Labour Disputes, 2010" have now been tabulated and released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
The "Survey on Labour Disputes" is conducted to survey and identify the actual situation relating to labour disputes in Japan such as the nature of the action, number of participants and demands. The survey divides labour disputes into two broad categories, "disputes involving industrial action," where a dispute arising between a labour union or group of workers and a counterparty results in industrial action such as a strike, and "disputes with no industrial action," where no industrial action is involved and a third party such as a labour relations commission participates in the resolution.
[Key Survey Results]
1 Number of disputes
(1)There were 85 cases of "disputes involving industrial action" (down by 7 cases (7.6%) on the previous year), a reduction for the third consecutive year , and as in the previous year the lowest since comparable records began in 1957. However , the "number of persons involved in action" was 21,262, an increase of 719 (3.5%) on the previous year .
(2) There were 597 cases of "disputes with no industrial action," a reduction of 91 cases (13.2%) on the previous year .
【Table 1(PDF:17KB), Figure 1(PDF:26KB)】
2 Disputes involving industrial action
Looking at "disputes involving industrial action" by the types of action, there was a reduction for the
third consecutive year for the following types:
(1) "Strike of half a day or more," at 38 cases (fall of 10 cases (20.8%) on the previous year)
(2)"Strike of less than half a day ," with 56 cases (fall of 3 cases (5.1%) on the previous year)
【Table 2(PDF:17KB)】
3 Main demands
The main demands involved in disputes (multiple responses; total of 682 cases) were firstly matters relating to "wages" (342 cases), followed by "administration, employment and personnel" (270 cases), and "union security or collective agreements" (173 cases).
【Table 6(PDF:20KB)】
4 Resolution of labour disputes
Of those labour disputes which were resolved within 2010 (including those deemed resolved), 28.4% were resolved by direct negotiation between labour and management (previously 26.6%), and 34.0% were resolved with the participation of a third party (previously 39.1%).
【Table 7(PDF:53KB)】
(Note) The sum of the figures given in 2(1) and 2(2) exceeds the total given in (1) above, as a single dispute may involve multiple cases of industrial action.
See attached summary report for more details.
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