Industrial disputes drop to lowest level in two years

The number of industrial disputes has fallen to a two-year low, new figures reveal, despite major work outages affecting public transport commuters.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed there were 44 disputes during the first three months of 2025, 34 of those being new ones.

It's the lowest number of total industrial disputes in a three-month period since the March quarter of 2023.

The quarter had 10,300 employees involved in industrial disputes, a reduction of more than half from the previous quarter, which had 25,200 workers taking part in workplace stoppages.

The bureau said 13,900 working days were lost during the period, down from nearly 54,000 in the final three months of 2024.

The most industrial disputes happened in the manufacturing sector, which made up 42 per cent of all action for the March quarter.

It was followed by construction which accounted for 24 per cent, transport and postal services with 19 per cent and other industries making up for seven per cent.

Among the notable industrial actions taking place at the start of the year were train strikes in Sydney due to pay negotiations between rail unions and the NSW government breaking down.

The strikes caused major disruptions to Sydney's train network, but an agreement between the parties was eventually reached in May.

The first three months of the year saw Victoria register the most working days lost to industrial action with 6000, followed by Queensland with 4200 and NSW with 2600.

South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory had 600, 500 and 100 working days lost, respectively, during the period.