Despite an increase in industrial action in South Africa from 99 strikes in 2012 to 114 in 2013, the Department of Labour’s (DoL’s) latest yearly Industrial Labour report showed that the number of working days lost had been cut to 1.8-million.

The country has experienced a steady rise in the number of strike incidents since 2009, when 51 cases of industrial action were recorded, followed by 74 cases in 2010 and 67 in 2011.

The report, released on Friday, indicated that, in terms of the total number of work stoppages, 2013 had been the “most unstable labour market year” compared with the previous four years.

In 2013, 42% of strike incidents were protected strikes, compared with the 54.5% in 2012.

The report stated, however, that, despite the hike in the number of strikes, the working days lost plunged 44.2%, from 3.3-million in 2012, to 1.8-million in 2013.

The number of working days lost per 1 000 employees decreased 46.3%, from 244 in 2012, to 131 in 2013 – its lowest level in five years – while the total number of working hours lost decreased from 24-million in 2012, to 15.4-million last year.

The DoL attributed this decline to parties acting positively in negotiations to keep the strikes as short as possible in 2013 as compared with the previous year.

However, during the year under review, 40.8% of work stoppages lasted between 11 and 20 days, with a particularly rapid rise on the 16- to 20-day stoppages, compared with 2012, where 22.3% of work stoppages lasted up to 20 days.

Last year, 26% of work stoppages lasted between one and five days, compared with 22% in the prior year, while 15.1% of work stoppages had lasted for between 6 and 10 days, a decline from the 38.5% recorded in 2012.

Nearly 15% of the strikes lasted between 21 and 30 days in 2013 – a steep climb on the 9.1% of the prior year.

During 2013, R6.7-billion in wages had been lost due to workers’ participation in strikes, compared with R6.6-billion in 2012.