The total amount of workdays lost in the economy due to strike action almost tripled in 2024 as compared to 2023, the Labor Ministry's report published on Sunday found.
The report counted the total number of workdays lost due to strikes. This number represents one day for each person participating in a strike or those who were unable to work due to their coworkers striking, resulting in the collective number missing work on a specific day.
In 2024, there were 25 full strikes, with approximately 251,000 strikers participating. These strikes resulted in a loss of manpower that equals approximately 762,000 workdays, the Labor Ministry stated.
In comparison, in 2023, there were only 16 full strikes, with approximately 73,000 strikers participating, causing a loss of approximately 266,000 workdays in total.
Additionally, in 2024, there were only three partial strikes, in which approximately 80,000 strikers took part, as compared to 10 partial strikes in 2023, in which approximately 26,000 strikers took part.
Approximately 64% of all strikes in 2024 were short in length, lasting between two hours and one day. About 16% were between one and three days, and around 18% lasted between three and 14 days. There were no strikes recorded that lasted longer than 14 days in 2024.
Breakdown of reasons, sectors striking
Over half (56%) of all 2024 strikes were due to wage demands. This contributed to approximately 86% of all workdays lost to the economy in that calendar year.
Approximately 12% of the 2024 strikes were related to labor agreements, including new agreements and failures to renew existing ones.
Approximately 12% of strikes were due to violence, about 8% were due to organizational changes, and the remaining approximately 12% were for reasons connected to employee dismissals, labor relations, and disciplinary issues.
The report noted that this increase is mostly due to labor actions taken by the Teachers' Union, which continued over three school years, ending in September 2024, as part of a struggle to raise teachers' salaries. This is because 60% of all full strikes in 2024 took place in the education sector.
In contrast, approximately 4% took place in health, welfare, and social services, with similar percentages in public and local administration, as well as water supply, sewage services, and construction.
Another 8% of full strikes occurred in the industry sector, with a similar percentage in transportation services, as well as financial and insurance services.
In addition, the Labor Ministry published the breakdown of how the strike activity affected the public and private sectors. It found that 92% of all full strikes were in the public sector, constituting 99% of all workdays lost, as compared to approximately 4% in the private sector, consisting of 1% of all workdays lost.