Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:

Annual working days lost under Fair Work Act have remained around the historically low levels that have prevailed over the last decade.

Industrial dispute figures tend to fluctuate in the short term, depending on the number of agreements which expire in any given period.

The increase in the number of working days lost over the year ending 31 December 2011 can be partly explained by the jump in the number of expiring agreements in 2011 as compared to 2010. In 2011, 8335 agreements expired, as opposed to 5133 in 2010.

In addition, the ABS industrial dispute figures include working days lost from all industrial disputes, not just those under the FW Act, so that disputes by state government employees not covered by the FW Act contribute to the total number of working days lost. For instance, industrial action by NSW public sector employees significantly impacted on the September quarter 2011 figures.