IRISH BUSINESSES lost far fewer working days to industrial action in the second quarter of 2011 than they did during the same period in 2010, new figures have shown.

Data published by the Central Statistics Office showed that while the number of officially acknowledged industrial disputes remained unchanged compared to the first quarter, businesses lost out on far fewer days of work.

Three disputes, involving a total of 462 staff, led to the loss of 572 days’ output – compared to the first quarter, when 335 workers missed out on a total of 2,451 days of work.

The 572-day loss in Q2 of 2011 also compared favourably to the second quarter of 2010, when just 22 workers managed to accumulate 1,136 days of industrial action.

In the quarter just gone, one single one-day strike – in the construction sector – accounted for 402 days of lost work, over two-thirds of the total.

Another industrial action recorded was in the field of public administration, while the third was in an unnamed miscellaneous sector.

Save for the fourth quarter of last year – when just 27 days’ output was lost – the loss of output in the second quarter of 2011 is the lowest since the third quarter of 2007, when no industrial action of any sort was noted.