Vol. 399 No. 1
7 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for Labour the number of man days lost due to industrial disputes for the four month period January to April 1990; the figures for the preceding four months; and the figures for the first four months of 1988 and 1989.
My Department estimate that the number of days lost for the periods in question are as follows: January-April 1990, 69,698; September-December 1989, 11,998; January-April 1989, 12,020; and January-April 1988, 78,067.
As a commentary on these figures it is clear that they are worse than for the same period in 1989 but better than the same period in 1988. I believe there were exceptional circumstances in the period in that almost 90 per cent of the days lost were accounted for by four disputes — Waterford, Barlo, Anglo Irish Beef Processors and Liebert. In general terms and bearing in mind these four disputes the figures are a distinct improvement on 1987 and 1986 in which 129,000 and 137,000 days were lost in the first three months. Even these years, however, were an improvement on the strike-prone sixties and seventies.
Does the Minister share my concern that these figures may represent a resurgence of expectations which may lead — bearing in mind other factors on the industrial relations front — to an upsurge in industrial disputes? If so, is the Minister prepared to engage in discussions with the social partners now rather than waiting until the Programme for National Recovery in order to bring the matter under control at this stage?
I do not disagree with anything the Deputy has said. Last night I spoke at the national conference of the Federation of Irish Employers. I have already spoken at more than 30 annual conferences in the past six weeks and my message at these conferences has been fairly well publicised. There is an indiction that many workers and indeed management believe that all the national problems that created so many crises some years ago have gone. I have been at pains to point out that we still have a massive national debt and that it takes a massive amount of money to service that debt; that there are 220,000 people unemployed with huge numbers leaving school each year and I have asked workers not to lose sight of these realities when they vote on a dispute. Two of the four companies listed — Waterford and Barlo — where the workers are represented by the ATGWU, account for 75 per cent of the days lost this year. Disputes at the four companies represent 90 per cent of all days lost. In the main they were not disputes over pay issues but had more to do with restructuring. In fact one strike arose out of a row at a Christmas party and had nothing to do with the workplace but it still continued for several thousand days. People should think before they get themselves involved in such strikes.
