Survey on Labour Disputes 2011
Digest of the Summary Report
"Total disputes" and "Disputes involving industrial action" both improves on the record low with 612 cases and 57 cases, respectively
21-Aug-2012 The results of the "Survey on Labour Disputes, 2011" 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. And the sum of these two categories is "total disputes" .
[Key Survey Results]
1 Number of disputes
There were 612 "total disputes" (down by 70 cases (10.3%) on the previous year), a reduction for the second consecutive year , and 57 cases of "disputes involving industrial action" (down by 28 cases (32.9%)), a reduction for the fourth consecutive year . Both "total disputes" and "disputes involving industrial action" were the record low since 1957 where comparable data is available.
【Table 1(PDF:17KB), Figure 1(PDF:26KB), Annex Table(PDF:25KB)】
2 Disputes involving industrial action
Looking at "disputes involving industrial action" by the types of action, there was a reduction for the fourth consecutive year for the following types:
(1)"Strike for half a day or longer ," at 28 cases (fall of 10 cases (26.3%) on the previous year)
(2)"Strike for less than half a day ," with 35 cases (fall of 21 cases (37.5%) on the previous year)
【Table 2(PDF:18KB)】
3 Main demands
The main demands involved in disputes (multiple responses; total of 612 cases) were firstly matters relating to "wages" (267 cases), followed by "administration, employment and personnel" (252 cases), and "union security or collective agreements" (181 cases).
【Table 6(PDF:20KB)】
4 Resolution of labour disputes
Of those labour disputes which were resolved within 2011 (including those deemed resolved), 20.3% were resolved by direct negotiation between labour and management (previously 28.4%), and 37.2% were resolved with the participation of a third party (previously 34.0%).
【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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