Strikes and non-strike action: evidence on relative incidence

Data on the relative ''popularity'' of strikes, overtime bans and go slows in the 1980s, kindly made available by the CBI, is compared to information from other surveys. The principal conclusion of the paper is that the relative incidence of overtime bans and strikes has reversed in the 1980s compared to the 1970s - overtime bans have been consistently more prevalent than strikes in the 1980s. The increased use of cut-price industrial action may be one factor not previously identified in the declining incidence of strikes over the last decade.