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Internet Address:  http://stats.bls.gov                         Thursday, February 24, 2000




MAJOR WORK STOPPAGES, 1999

	All measures of major work stoppages in 1999 were at or below the lowest
 levels previously recorded in the 53-year old series, the U.S. Department of
 Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.  Seventeen major work stoppages
 began during the year, idling 73,000 workers and resulting in 2.0 million work
 days of idleness (about 1 out of every 10,000 available work days).  Comparable
 figures for 1998 were 34 stoppages, 387,000 workers idled, and 5.1 million days
 of idleness.  (See table 1 and charts 1-3.)  The series, which dates back to
 1947, covers strikes and lockouts involving 1,000 workers or more and lasting
 at least one shift.

	Of the 17 major work stoppages beginning in 1999, 12 were in the private
 sector; the remainder occurred in State and local government, all in
 educational services.  In the private sector, seven stoppages occurred in
 goods-producing industries and five occurred in service-producing industries.

	There were three stoppages that each idled more than 10,000 workers.  In
 Atlantic City, 12,000 workers represented by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant
 Employees Union struck various casino hotels for 2 days.  The other stoppages
 involved 11,000 teachers in various school districts in the State of Washington
 and 11,000 teachers in Detroit, Mich.  (See table 2.)

	Industries with the most days of idleness during the year due to work
 stoppages were primary metals (760,800 days) and transportation equipment
 manufacturing (720,500 days).

Eighty-two percent of the year's work stoppage idleness (1.6 million days)
 stemmed from three disputes involving members of the United Steelworkers.  The
 stoppage at Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation resulted in 750,000 days
 of idleness; the one at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, in
 622,500 days of idleness; and the stoppage at Continental General Tire Company,
 in 252,000 days of idleness.

	The average length of work stoppages beginning in 1999 was 16 days, but a
 majority of the work stoppages (70 percent) lasted 2 weeks or less, and only 18
 percent extended more than 21 days.  Work stoppages were concentrated in the 1
-2 day and 7-14 day ranges.  (See chart 4.)  The longest stoppage beginning in
 the year was at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, where some
 8,000 workers represented by the United Steelworkers were on strike for 117
 days.  The longest stoppage in effect in 1999 was at Kaiser Aluminum and
 Chemical Corporation; the stoppage began in October 1998 and continued into
 2000.




   The term "major work stoppage" includes worker-initiated strikes, as well as
 lockouts of workers by their employers, involving 1,000 workers or more.  BLS
 does not attempt to distinguish between strikes and lockouts in its statistics.


Table 1.  Work stoppages involving 1,000 workers or more, 1947-99
__________________________________________________________________________
                            |                   |
                            |   Stoppages 1/    |        Days idle 1/
                             ___________________|_________________________
                            |       |           |           |
            Year            |       |  Workers  |           |  Percent of
                            |Number | involved  |  Number   |  estimated
                            |       |(thousands)|(thousands)|   working
                            |       |           |           |   time 2/
__________________________________________________________________________
                            |       |           |           |
 1947 ......................|  270  |   1,629   |   25,720  |      (3)
 1948 ......................|  245  |   1,435   |   26,127  |     0.22
 1949 ......................|  262  |   2,537   |   43,420  |      .38
                            |       |           |           |
 1950 ......................|  424  |   1,698   |   30,390  |      .26
 1951 ......................|  415  |   1,462   |   15,070  |      .12
 1952 ......................|  470  |   2,746   |   48,820  |      .38
 1953 ......................|  437  |   1,623   |   18,130  |      .14
 1954 ......................|  265  |   1,075   |   16,630  |      .13
                            |       |           |           |
 1955 ......................|  363  |   2,055   |   21,180  |      .16
 1956 ......................|  287  |   1,370   |   26,840  |      .20
 1957 ......................|  279  |     887   |   10,340  |      .07
 1958 ......................|  332  |   1,587   |   17,900  |      .13
 1959 ......................|  245  |   1,381   |   60,850  |      .43
                            |       |           |           |
 1960 ......................|  222  |     896   |   13,260  |      .09
 1961 ......................|  195  |   1,031   |   10,140  |      .07
 1962 ......................|  211  |     793   |   11,760  |      .08
 1963 ......................|  181  |     512   |   10,020  |      .07
 1964 ......................|  246  |   1,183   |   16,220  |      .11
                            |       |           |           |
 1965 ......................|  268  |     999   |   15,140  |      .10
 1966 ......................|  321  |   1,300   |   16,000  |      .10
 1967 ......................|  381  |   2,192   |   31,320  |      .18
 1968 ......................|  392  |   1,855   |   35,367  |      .20
 1969 ......................|  412  |   1,576   |   29,397  |      .16
                            |       |           |           |
 1970 ......................|  381  |   2,468   |   52,761  |      .29
 1971 ......................|  298  |   2,516   |   35,538  |      .19
 1972 ......................|  250  |     975   |   16,764  |      .09
 1973 ......................|  317  |   1,400   |   16,260  |      .08
 1974 ......................|  424  |   1,796   |   31,809  |      .16
                            |       |           |           |
 1975 ......................|  235  |     965   |   17,563  |      .09
 1976 ......................|  231  |   1,519   |   23,962  |      .12
 1977 ......................|  298  |   1,212   |   21,258  |      .10
 1978 ......................|  219  |   1,006   |   23,774  |      .11
 1979 ......................|  235  |   1,021   |   20,409  |      .09
                            |       |           |           |
 1980 ......................|  187  |     795   |   20,844  |      .09
 1981 ......................|  145  |     729   |   16,908  |      .07
 1982 ......................|   96  |     656   |    9,061  |      .04
 1983 ......................|   81  |     909   |   17,461  |      .08
 1984 ......................|   62  |     376   |    8,499  |      .04
                            |       |           |           |
 1985 ......................|   54  |     324   |    7,079  |      .03
 1986 ......................|   69  |     533   |   11,861  |      .05
 1987 ......................|   46  |     174   |    4,481  |      .02
 1988 ......................|   40  |     118   |    4,381  |      .02
 1989 ......................|   51  |     452   |   16,996  |      .07
                            |       |           |           |
 1990 ......................|   44  |     185   |    5,926  |      .02
 1991 ......................|   40  |     392   |    4,584  |      .02
 1992 ......................|   35  |     364   |    3,989  |      .01
 1993 ......................|   35  |     182   |    3,981  |      .01
 1994 ......................|   45  |     322   |    5,020  |      .02
                            |       |           |           |
 1995 ......................|   31  |     192   |    5,771  |      .02
 1996 ......................|   37  |     273   |    4,889  |      .02
 1997 ......................|   29  |     339   |    4,497  |      .01
 1998 ......................|   34  |     387   |    5,116  |      .02
 1999 ......................|   17  |      73   |    1,996  |      .01

___________________________________________________________________________
    1/ The number of stoppages and        more than one stoppage during
workers relate to stoppages that          the year.
began in the year.  Days of                   2/ Working time is for all
idleness include all stoppages in         employees, except those in private
effect.  Workers are counted more         households, forestry, and fisheries.
than once if they are involved in             3/ Not available.

Table 2.  Work stoppages involving 5,000 workers or more beginning in 1999

                                     |            |            |     Workers   |   Estimated days 
  Employer, location, and union      |    Began   |    Ended   |    involved1  |    idle in 19991
                                     |            |            |               |
Newport News Shipbuilding and        |   4/5/99   |   7/30/99  |     8,000     |      622,500
 Dry Dock Company                    |            |            |               |
  Newport News, VA                   |            |            |               |
  Steelworkers                       |            |            |               |
                                     |            |            |               |
State of Washington (teachers)       |  4/14/99   |   4/23/99  |    11,000     |       25,600
  Washington                         |            |            |               |
  Washington Education Association   |            |            |               |
   (NEA)                             |            |            |               |              
                                     |            |            |               |
Ingalls Shipbuilding, Inc.           |  5/16/99   |    6/4/99  |     7,000     |       98,000
  Pascagoula, MS                     |            |            |               |
  Pascagoula Metal Trades Council    |            |            |               |
                                     |            |            |               |
Board of Education, City of Detroit  |  8/30/99   |    9/7/99  |    11,000     |       66,000
  Detroit, MI                        |            |            |               |
  Detroit Federation of Teachers(AFT)|            |            |               |
                                     |            |            |               |
Atlantic City casino hotels          |  9/15/99   |   9/16/99  |    12,000     |       24,000
  Atlantic City, NJ                  |            |            |               |
  Hotel Employees and Restaurant     |            |            |               |
   Employees                         |            |            |               |
                                     |            |            |               |
Bruno's Incorporated                 |  9/26/99   |   10/2/99  |     7,100     |       35,500
  Alabama                            |            |            |               |
  United Food and Commercial Workers |            |            |               |
                                     |            |            |               |

1 Workers and days idle are rounded to the nearest 100.