Industrial action in the UK - Statistics & Facts

In December 2022, there were approximately 829,000 working days lost due to labor disputes in the United Kingdom, with 155,000 workers being on strike in that month. This was the peak, in terms of working days lost, of a recent surge in industrial action that has swept the UK since Summer 2022, and has continued into 2023. The first wave of these strikes began in May 2022 when the UK's largest transport union; the RMT, voted to go on strike in the following month. Industrial action has also spread to other sectors in the UK, with workers in health, education, and many other sectors opting to strike in recent months.

What are the main reasons for the recent wave of strikes?

Falling wages, as well as disputes about working conditions are the overriding factors that explain the current wave of industrial action. While wages were generally growing before late 2021, high levels of inflation outpaced this growth for a long period between November 2021 and May 2023. Additionally, wages in the UK's public sector, which many of the striking industries generally belong to, trailed the private sector for most of this period. Due to the ongoing cost of living crisis, there has been a degree of solidarity with the strikers in the UK, with many feeling the same pressures impacting their standard of living. There is evidence that this does vary by industry however, with a late 2022 survey indicating that support was strongest for Nurses going on strike, and weakest for Barristers. Furthermore, the disruption caused by industrial action may be gradually eroding this support, with the share of people who support more restrictions on strikes increasing from 21 percent in December 2021, to 34 percent in May 2023.

Long-term decline in trade union membership

The number of people who were members of a trade union grew steadily in the United Kingdom from the late 19th Century onwards, eventually reaching a peak of 13.2 million members in 1980. Since that year, the number of trade union members had declined, falling to 6.7 million members by 2021, or around 23.1 percent of the overall workforce. Alongside this fall in membership there has been a decline in the number of trade unions in the UK, with 124 trade unions in 2023, compared with 237 in 1999. The merger of smaller trade unions into larger ones has also influenced this decline, with a series of mergers between 2002 and 2007 making UNITE one of the largest trade unions. A more recent merger of the National Union of Teachers, and Association of Teachers and Lecturers resulted in the formation of the National Education Union (NEU) in 2017, making it the fifth-largest union in terms of membership.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by D. Clark, Dec 20, 2023

Key insights

Number of working days lost to labor disputes in October 2023
131,000
Number of workers involved in labor disputes in November 2023
21,000
Share of Britons who think trade unions are able to strike too easily
34%
Get more insights

Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Number of trade union members of Unite in the United Kingdom from 1999/00 to 2020/21

Employment

Unite trade union membership in the UK 1999-2021

Net support for workers going on strike in the United Kingdom in 2022, by sector

Employment

Net support for workers going on strike in the UK 2022, by sector

Share of people in Great Britain who agree that "trade unions are able to take strike action too easily and there should be more restrictions upon them" from 2019 to 2023, by voting intention

Employment

Support for restrictions on unions striking in Britain 2019-2023, by political party

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