The information on Industrial Disputes is based on details supplied by the Industrial Relations Section, Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation (https://dbei.gov.ie/en/What-We-Do/Workplace-and-Skills/Industrial-Relations/) and on information collected directly from other sources by the Central Statistics Office.
Disputes are included in this release if they involve a stoppage of work lasting for at least one day and the total time lost is 10 or more person-days.
In calculating days lost, it is assumed that work would have continued if no dispute had occurred. No allowance is made for loss of work from unemployment or other causes (such as bad weather) which might have happened even if there was no dispute. The number of days lost is calculated by multiplying the number of persons involved by the number of normal working days during which they were involved in the dispute. Persons working for approximately 40 hours per week are assumed to be working the equivalent of a 5 day week even if the work is spread over more than 5 days.
The tables show data on disputes which began and disputes which were in progress in each quarter. The quarterly figures for the number of disputes in progress and for the number of firms and workers involved will not always add to the annual total, since an industrial dispute can be in progress in more than one quarter.
The reference quarters for Industrial Disputes results are:
Q1 - January to March, Q2 - April to June, Q3 - July to September and Q4 - October to December.