UK Strike Statistics

UK strike days by month, September 2022 to August 2026

Each striking employer counts once per strike day, broken down by sector.

Data collection began September 2022. The current month is still running, and later months show only the dates confirmed so far.

Strike days by year

Each striking employer counts once per strike day.

* Partial year — either collection had not begun for the whole of it, or it has not finished yet.

Employers with the most strike days

Top 20 of 284 employers, all time. Select one for its full strike history.

1. Birmingham Refuse Workers UNITE 388 days
2. Rail ASLEF 96 days
3. Veolia UNITE 91 days
4. University Staff UCU 90 days
5. St Mungos UNITE 89 days
6. Depart for Work & Pensions PCS 79 days
7. Liverpool Museums PCS 72 days
8. DVLA PCS 62 days
9. NHS Junior Doctors BMA 61 days
10. VUE UNITE 58 days
11. BAE UNITE 57 days
12. Go North East UNITE 57 days
13. G4S GMB 56 days
14. Cardiff Refuse Workers UNITE 55 days
15. Pensions Regulator PCS 55 days
16. Dundee University UCU 49 days
17. Village Hotel UNITE 49 days
18. Abellio Bus UNITE 40 days
19. NHS Workers UNITE 39 days
20. Rail RMT 38 days

Unions with the most strike days

Top 20 of 23 unions, all time.

1. UNITE · 149 employers 2,127 days
2. PCS · 28 employers 633 days
3. UCU · 27 employers 393 days
4. GMB · 26 employers 248 days
5. RMT · 14 employers 109 days
6. ASLEF · 1 employers 96 days
7. BMA · 3 employers 93 days
8. UNISON · 6 employers 46 days
9. UVW · 1 employers 34 days
10. NEU · 3 employers 23 days
11. EIS · 1 employers 21 days
12. PROSPECT · 8 employers 15 days
13. NASUWT · 2 employers 13 days
14. RCN · 2 employers 12 days
15. TSSA · 2 employers 12 days
16. NUJ · 4 employers 11 days
17. FBU · 1 employers 8 days
18. CWU · 1 employers 6 days
19. SSTA · 1 employers 4 days
20. SOR · 1 employers 3 days

Strike days by sector

Every sector tracked, all time.

1. Other · 78 employers 1,016 days
2. Government · 39 employers 601 days
3. Education · 51 employers 584 days
4. Council · 13 employers 543 days
5. Bus · 26 employers 310 days
6. Manufacturing · 16 employers 208 days
7. Rail & Train · 18 employers 197 days
8. NHS · 18 employers 196 days
9. Airports · 11 employers 92 days
10. Emergency Services · 5 employers 60 days
11. Retail · 3 employers 38 days
12. Maritime · 3 employers 30 days
13. Tube & London Underground · 2 employers 30 days
14. Royal Mail · 1 employers 6 days

Records

2 cancelled strike dates on record. Cancelled dates are excluded from every figure on this page.

Industrial Action by Sector

Industrial Action by Union