Information: (202) 691-6282 USDL 00-51 Media Contact: (202) 691-5902 For Release: 10:00 A.M. EST Internet Address: http://stats.bls.gov Thursday, February 24, 2000 MAJOR WORK STOPPAGES, 1999 All measures of major work stoppages in 1999 were at or below the lowest levels previously recorded in the 53-year old series, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Seventeen major work stoppages began during the year, idling 73,000 workers and resulting in 2.0 million work days of idleness (about 1 out of every 10,000 available work days). Comparable figures for 1998 were 34 stoppages, 387,000 workers idled, and 5.1 million days of idleness. (See table 1 and charts 1-3.) The series, which dates back to 1947, covers strikes and lockouts involving 1,000 workers or more and lasting at least one shift. Of the 17 major work stoppages beginning in 1999, 12 were in the private sector; the remainder occurred in State and local government, all in educational services. In the private sector, seven stoppages occurred in goods-producing industries and five occurred in service-producing industries. There were three stoppages that each idled more than 10,000 workers. In Atlantic City, 12,000 workers represented by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union struck various casino hotels for 2 days. The other stoppages involved 11,000 teachers in various school districts in the State of Washington and 11,000 teachers in Detroit, Mich. (See table 2.) Industries with the most days of idleness during the year due to work stoppages were primary metals (760,800 days) and transportation equipment manufacturing (720,500 days). Eighty-two percent of the year's work stoppage idleness (1.6 million days) stemmed from three disputes involving members of the United Steelworkers. The stoppage at Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation resulted in 750,000 days of idleness; the one at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, in 622,500 days of idleness; and the stoppage at Continental General Tire Company, in 252,000 days of idleness. The average length of work stoppages beginning in 1999 was 16 days, but a majority of the work stoppages (70 percent) lasted 2 weeks or less, and only 18 percent extended more than 21 days. Work stoppages were concentrated in the 1 -2 day and 7-14 day ranges. (See chart 4.) The longest stoppage beginning in the year was at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, where some 8,000 workers represented by the United Steelworkers were on strike for 117 days. The longest stoppage in effect in 1999 was at Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation; the stoppage began in October 1998 and continued into 2000. The term "major work stoppage" includes worker-initiated strikes, as well as lockouts of workers by their employers, involving 1,000 workers or more. BLS does not attempt to distinguish between strikes and lockouts in its statistics. Table 1. Work stoppages involving 1,000 workers or more, 1947-99 __________________________________________________________________________ | | | Stoppages 1/ | Days idle 1/ ___________________|_________________________ | | | | Year | | Workers | | Percent of |Number | involved | Number | estimated | |(thousands)|(thousands)| working | | | | time 2/ __________________________________________________________________________ | | | | 1947 ......................| 270 | 1,629 | 25,720 | (3) 1948 ......................| 245 | 1,435 | 26,127 | 0.22 1949 ......................| 262 | 2,537 | 43,420 | .38 | | | | 1950 ......................| 424 | 1,698 | 30,390 | .26 1951 ......................| 415 | 1,462 | 15,070 | .12 1952 ......................| 470 | 2,746 | 48,820 | .38 1953 ......................| 437 | 1,623 | 18,130 | .14 1954 ......................| 265 | 1,075 | 16,630 | .13 | | | | 1955 ......................| 363 | 2,055 | 21,180 | .16 1956 ......................| 287 | 1,370 | 26,840 | .20 1957 ......................| 279 | 887 | 10,340 | .07 1958 ......................| 332 | 1,587 | 17,900 | .13 1959 ......................| 245 | 1,381 | 60,850 | .43 | | | | 1960 ......................| 222 | 896 | 13,260 | .09 1961 ......................| 195 | 1,031 | 10,140 | .07 1962 ......................| 211 | 793 | 11,760 | .08 1963 ......................| 181 | 512 | 10,020 | .07 1964 ......................| 246 | 1,183 | 16,220 | .11 | | | | 1965 ......................| 268 | 999 | 15,140 | .10 1966 ......................| 321 | 1,300 | 16,000 | .10 1967 ......................| 381 | 2,192 | 31,320 | .18 1968 ......................| 392 | 1,855 | 35,367 | .20 1969 ......................| 412 | 1,576 | 29,397 | .16 | | | | 1970 ......................| 381 | 2,468 | 52,761 | .29 1971 ......................| 298 | 2,516 | 35,538 | .19 1972 ......................| 250 | 975 | 16,764 | .09 1973 ......................| 317 | 1,400 | 16,260 | .08 1974 ......................| 424 | 1,796 | 31,809 | .16 | | | | 1975 ......................| 235 | 965 | 17,563 | .09 1976 ......................| 231 | 1,519 | 23,962 | .12 1977 ......................| 298 | 1,212 | 21,258 | .10 1978 ......................| 219 | 1,006 | 23,774 | .11 1979 ......................| 235 | 1,021 | 20,409 | .09 | | | | 1980 ......................| 187 | 795 | 20,844 | .09 1981 ......................| 145 | 729 | 16,908 | .07 1982 ......................| 96 | 656 | 9,061 | .04 1983 ......................| 81 | 909 | 17,461 | .08 1984 ......................| 62 | 376 | 8,499 | .04 | | | | 1985 ......................| 54 | 324 | 7,079 | .03 1986 ......................| 69 | 533 | 11,861 | .05 1987 ......................| 46 | 174 | 4,481 | .02 1988 ......................| 40 | 118 | 4,381 | .02 1989 ......................| 51 | 452 | 16,996 | .07 | | | | 1990 ......................| 44 | 185 | 5,926 | .02 1991 ......................| 40 | 392 | 4,584 | .02 1992 ......................| 35 | 364 | 3,989 | .01 1993 ......................| 35 | 182 | 3,981 | .01 1994 ......................| 45 | 322 | 5,020 | .02 | | | | 1995 ......................| 31 | 192 | 5,771 | .02 1996 ......................| 37 | 273 | 4,889 | .02 1997 ......................| 29 | 339 | 4,497 | .01 1998 ......................| 34 | 387 | 5,116 | .02 1999 ......................| 17 | 73 | 1,996 | .01 ___________________________________________________________________________ 1/ The number of stoppages and more than one stoppage during workers relate to stoppages that the year. began in the year. Days of 2/ Working time is for all idleness include all stoppages in employees, except those in private effect. Workers are counted more households, forestry, and fisheries. than once if they are involved in 3/ Not available. Table 2. Work stoppages involving 5,000 workers or more beginning in 1999 | | | Workers | Estimated days Employer, location, and union | Began | Ended | involved1 | idle in 19991 | | | | Newport News Shipbuilding and | 4/5/99 | 7/30/99 | 8,000 | 622,500 Dry Dock Company | | | | Newport News, VA | | | | Steelworkers | | | | | | | | State of Washington (teachers) | 4/14/99 | 4/23/99 | 11,000 | 25,600 Washington | | | | Washington Education Association | | | | (NEA) | | | | | | | | Ingalls Shipbuilding, Inc. | 5/16/99 | 6/4/99 | 7,000 | 98,000 Pascagoula, MS | | | | Pascagoula Metal Trades Council | | | | | | | | Board of Education, City of Detroit | 8/30/99 | 9/7/99 | 11,000 | 66,000 Detroit, MI | | | | Detroit Federation of Teachers(AFT)| | | | | | | | Atlantic City casino hotels | 9/15/99 | 9/16/99 | 12,000 | 24,000 Atlantic City, NJ | | | | Hotel Employees and Restaurant | | | | Employees | | | | | | | | Bruno's Incorporated | 9/26/99 | 10/2/99 | 7,100 | 35,500 Alabama | | | | United Food and Commercial Workers | | | | | | | | 1 Workers and days idle are rounded to the nearest 100.