Workers who go out on strike or stage a walkout stop work in order to enforce claims for certain conditions. Statistics Netherlands does not count the number of strikes, but the number of disputes which result in strike action or walkouts. A dispute may comprise more than one matter, and strikes concerning more than one matter are classified by the main mater of dispute. Statistics Netherlands measures strike action from an economic perspective. If the work process is interrupted as a consequence of conscious action by workers, and results in and a loss of production, this is considered as strike action. In 2006 there were 15 actions which Statistics Netherlands did not define as strike action. These were stoppage for purposes of informing workers (classified as consultations), internal disputes within a department (not between employers and employees), suspension of work by employer because of staff safety, action in workers’ own time and short actions (i.e. a few minutes at the most).
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