An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Bureau of Labor Statistics > Work Stoppages > Publications > Factsheets

Work Stoppages: 1980-1989

The Work Stoppages Program publishes monthly and annual data on major work stoppages in the United States. Major work stoppages are defined as any stoppage that involves 1,000 or more workers and lasts for at least one full work shift.

Number of work stoppages

The Work Stoppages Program tracks the number of stoppages that occur each month and year using two different metrics. The first metric is the number of work stoppages that began in the given month or year. The second metric is the number in effect, or a count of any stoppage ongoing in a particular month or year regardless of when it began. The following chart displays the total number of work stoppages beginning and in effect each year from 1980–1989 ⁽¹⁾. During this time, the work stoppages beginning and in effect for each year generally decreased from the preceding years.

Chart 1 data table

Table 1. Number of work stoppages in effect each year, 1980-1989
Year	Beginning	In effect
1980	187	(1)
1981	145	151
1982	96	98
1983	81	83
1984	62	68
1985	54	61
1986	69	72
1987	46	51
1988	40	43
1989	51	52
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Workers and Days Idled

During the decade, the largest number of workers that participated in work stoppages both beginning and in effect was during 1983 and the fewest was in 1988. [1]

Chart 2 data table

Table 2. Number of workers (in thousands) in the period, 1980-1989
Year	Beginning	In effect
1980	795	(1)
1981	728.9	746.5
1982	655.8	661.1
1983	909.4	945.8
1984	376	390.9
1985	323.9	335.2
1986	533.1	537.5
1987	174.4	214.7
1988	118.3	121.9
1989	452.1	454.1
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

The greatest days of idleness occurred in 1980, followed by work stoppages that occurred in 1983 and 1989. The fewest days idled occurred during 1987 and 1988.

Chart 3 data table

Table 3. Number of days idleness (in thousands) in the period, 1980-1989
Year	Number (in thousands)
1980	20,844.00
1981	16,908.4
1982	9,061.2
1983	17,460.7
1984	8,498.8
1985	7,079.1
1986	11,860.5
1987	4,481.4
1988	4,381.4
1989	16,996.3
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

A Change in Program History

Over the long history of providing work stoppage data, there have been scope and publication changes to reflect both labor trends and legislative changes in program funding. From 1947 to 1980, the BLS reported all work stoppages in the United States that involved six workers or more and continued for the equivalent of a full day or shift or longer. The last bulletin, containing 1980 data, was published in March 1982. The Analysis of Work Stoppages, 1980 report contains information related to work stoppages by duration, size, monthly pattern, major issue, contract status, union affiliation, industry, occupation, location, settlement, and impasse procedures.

A work stoppage can be initiated for a number of reasons, including wages, benefits, work hours, and safety. Among all work stoppages beginning in 1980, the most common reason for a stoppage among general wage changes was general wage increases plus supplementary benefits. The fewest beginning work stoppages by issue were general wage decrease and general wage increase with hours decreased.

Chart 4 data table

Table 4. Work stoppages beginning in year by general wage changes, 1980
General wage changes	Stoppages beginning in year
General wage increases plus supplementary benefits	1,332
General wage increases	875
Wages and working conditions	185
General wage and cost-of-living increase	145
Cost-of-living increase	62
General wage increase, hours decrease	1
General wage decrease	1
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

There was a total of 3,885 work stoppages beginning in 1980. The majority of the work stoppages involved between 20 and 99 workers with 1,572 stoppages. The second largest number of beginning work stoppages was 893 stoppages and involved between 100 and 249 workers. For beginning work stoppages 1,000 workers and above, there were 187 stoppages.

Chart 5 data table

Table 5. Work stoppages beginning by number of workers, 1980
Number of workers	Total
6 and under 20	507
20 and under 100	1,572
100 and under 250	893
250 and under 500	451
500 and under 1,000	275
1,000 and under 5,000	156
5,000 and under 10,000	17
10,000 or more	14
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Among workers involved in work stoppages beginning in 1980, the manufacturing industry recorded 368,000 workers involved in renegotiation of an agreement, whether due to expiration or reopening, and workers in the nonmanufacturing industry recorded 695,800 workers involved in a stoppage. For work stoppages involving negotiation of a first agreement or union recognition, there were 27,200 workers in manufacturing and 695,800 workers in nonmanufacturing beginning in 1980.

Chart 6 data table

Table 6. Work stoppages by industry group and contract status, 1980
Industry	Negotiation of first agreement or union recognition	Renegotiation of agreement (expiration or reopening)
Manufacturing	11,900	368,800
Nonmanufacturing	27,200	695,800
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

There were 820 stoppages ending in 1980 that lasted 15 to 29 days. Over half of the stoppages were between 7 and 59 days.

Chart 7 data table

Table 7. Duration of ending stoppages, 1980
Duration	Total
1 day	324
2 to 3 days	325
4 to 6 days	369
7 to 14 days	741
15 to 29 days	820
30 to 59 days	681
60 to 89 days	287
90 days and over	392
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

The Characteristics of Major Collective Bargaining Agreements, January 1, 1980 contains work stoppage information on identifying characteristics of agreements studied; union security, management rights and noneconomic provisions; wages and related provisions; hours, overtime and premium pay; paid and unpaid leave; seniority and related provisions; job security provisions; and dispute settlement.

Among agreements covering 1,000 workers or more in 1980, the lowest number of agreements expired in November and December with 22 agreements. The highest number of agreements that expired was 142 in August.

Chart 8 data table

Table 8. Expiration of agreements by month, 1980
Month	Agreements
January	24
February	28
March	46
April	66
May	79
June	84
July	44
August	142
September	73
October	42
November	22
December	22
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

The largest number of workers in agreements that expired in 1980 was 1,023,850 in August. The lowest number of workers was in November with 62,250 workers.

Chart 9 data table

Table 9. Number of workers in agreements that expired by month, 1980
Month	Workers
January	84,850
February	72,750
March	162,800
April	185,350
May	227,600
June	466,250
July	103,450
August	1,023,850
September	275,150
October	144,450
November	62,250
December	74,950
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

For More Information

Annual historical work stoppages information can be found in the Annual Historical Table, 1947-Present (XLSX). Detailed work stoppage information for 1980 based on previous work stoppages publications can be found in the Analysis of Work Stoppages, 1980 and Characteristics of Major Collective Bargaining Agreements, January 1, 1980 reports.

End notes

⁽¹⁾ Data is not available in 1980. Over the long history of providing work stoppage data, there have been scope and publication changes to reflect both labor trends and legislative changes in program funding. See Work Stoppages Through the Years.