Information:      (202) 691-5174            USDL 03-100
Media Contact:    (202) 691-5902            For Release: 10:00 A.M. EST
Internet Address:  http://www.bls.gov       Tuesday, March 11, 2003
                                     
                                     
                                     
                                     
                       MAJOR WORK STOPPAGES IN 2002

     The number of workers idled, the number of days of idleness, and the
percent of estimated working time lost because of strikes and lockouts were
at historic lows in 2002, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau
of Labor Statistics reported.  Nineteen major work stoppages began during
the year, idling 46,000 workers and resulting in 660,000 workdays of
idleness (less than 1 out of every 10,000 available workdays).  Comparable
figures for 2001 were 29 stoppages, 99,000 workers idled, and 1.2 million
days of idleness.  (See table 1.)  The major work stoppages
series, which dates back to 1947, covers strikes and lockouts involving
1,000 workers or more and lasting at least one shift.

     Of the major work stoppages beginning in 2002, 16 were in private
industry and three were in state and local government.  In private
industry, the largest number of stoppages (five) occurred in the
manufacturing sector, the construction sector (three) and the
transportation and warehousing sector (three).  In state and local
government, two stoppages were in education services and one was in public
administration.

     One work stoppage beginning in 2002 accounted for 20 percent of all
workers idled.  This stoppage was between the Pacific Maritime Association
and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, with 10,500 workers
idled.  None of the remaining stoppages idled 5,000 or more workers.   A
strike against the Cook County Court System by the American Federation of
State, County and Municipal Employees was the second largest work stoppage
in terms of number of workers idled (3,800 workers),  but  accounted for
only 8 percent of all workers idled.

     Private industry sectors with the most days of idleness during the
year due to work stoppages were manufacturing (209,800 days),
transportation and warehousing (186,500 days), and construction (65,800
days).

     Almost one-half of the year's work stoppage days of idleness stemmed
from three major disputes, including the previously mentioned dispute
between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore
and Warehouse Union (129,500 days).  The other two disputes were between
the Lockheed Martin Company and the Machinists (101,500 days) and the
Hershey Foods Corporation and the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers
and Grain Millers (84,000 days).

     The average length of work stoppages beginning in 2002 was 21 days,
and nearly three-fourths of all work stoppages lasted 30 days or less.  The
longest work stoppage was a 51-day dispute between three Queens, New York,
bus lines and the Transport Workers, which also was the only dispute in
2002 that lasted more than 50 days.




   The term "major work stoppage" includes both worker-initiated strikes
and employer-initiated lockouts that involve 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 or more workers, 1947-2002
                                                                                         
_________________________________________________________________________________________
                  |Number of stoppages  | Workers involved 1/   | Days idle 2/           
                  |          |          |           |           |           |            
                  |          |          |           | In effect |           | Percent of 
                  | Beginning| In effect| Beginning |  during   | Number    | estimated  
                  |   in     |  during  | in period |  period   |(thousands)| working    
 Year             | period   |  period  |(thousands)|(thousands)|           | time 3/    
_________________________________________________________________________________________
                  |          |          |           |           |           |            
 1947 ............|  270     |    --    |   1,629   |    --     |   25,720  |      (4)
 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
                  |          |          |           |           |           |         
 2000 ............|   39     |    --    |     394   |    --     |   20,419  |      .06
 2001 ............|   29     |    --    |      99   |    --     |    1,151  |      (5)
                  |          |          |           |           |           |         
 2002             |   19     |   20     |    45.9   |   46.9    |    659.6  |      (5)
      January     |    0     |    1     |       0   |    1.0    |     21.0  |      (5)
      February    |    1     |    2     |     1.5   |    2.5    |      9.0  |      (5)
      March       |    1     |    1     |     2.9   |    2.9    |     43.5  |      (5)
      April       |    2     |    3     |     4.1   |    7.0    |     80.7  |      (5)
      May         |    3     |    5     |     5.1   |    9.2    |    138.2  |      (5)
      June        |    1     |    3     |     1.5   |    5.3    |     36.0  |      (5)
      July        |    3     |    4     |     6.7   |    8.2    |     54.4  |      (5)
      August      |    1     |    3     |     3.5   |    6.2    |     50.6  |      (5)
      September   |    3     |    3     |    13.7   |   13.7    |     40.3  |      (5)
      October     |    1     |    3     |     1.2   |   13.5    |    133.4  |      (5)
      November    |    2     |    2     |     4.3   |    4.3    |     23.9  |      (5)
      December    |    1     |    1     |     1.4   |    1.4    |     28.6  |      (5)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
    1/ Workers are counted more than      	of estimated working time; private 
once if they are involved in more         	households, forestry, and fishery 
than one stoppage during the year.            	employees are excluded. 
    2/ Days idle includes all stoppages   	4/ Data not available. 
in effect during the reference period.    	5/ Less than .005.
    3/ Agricultural and government                                                        
employees are included in the calculation    	NOTE: Dash indicates no data for this    
                                                category.