Work Stoppages: September 2000 quarter
Eight Work Stoppages Ended in September 2000 Quarter
Eight work stoppages ended in the September 2000 quarter, latest figures from Statistics New Zealand show. This
compares with three in the previous quarter and 13 in the same quarter last year.
In the September 2000 quarter, complete strikes accounted for seven of the stoppages. The other stoppage was a partial
strike. Some 741 employees were involved in the eight work stoppages, resulting in the loss of 1,893 person-days of work
and an estimated $380,000 in wages and salaries.
In the year to September 2000, 26 work stoppages ended compared with 30 in the September 1999 year. This is the lowest
number of work stoppages that have ended in the September year in the last decade. However, the number of employees
involved, and losses of person-days of work, and estimated wages and salaries, were up on the September 1999 year.
The September 2000 year stoppages involved 7,376 employees with the loss of 18,848 person-days of work and an estimated
$4.5 million in wages and salaries. In comparison, the 30 work stoppages that ended in the September 1999 year involved
6,220 employees and resulted in the loss of 9,754 person-days of work, and an estimated loss of $1.2 million in wages
and salaries.
Sixteen public sector stoppages and 10 private sector stoppages ended in the year to September 2000. In the September
1999 year there were 14 public sector stoppages and 16 private sector stoppages.
In the September 2000 year, there were eight work stoppages recorded in health and community services; there were five
in transport, storage and communication services; and there were four in education. The remaining nine were in all other
industries combined. Work stoppages in transport, storage and communication services contributed 45 per cent of the
estimated $4.5 million in wages and salaries lost during the year to September 2000.
Dianne Macaskill DEPUTY GOVERNMENT STATISTICIAN END