A Striking New Threat May Loom Over the Economy

Letters undelivered, rubbish piling up in the streets, commuters left stranded at stations—the past six months seems to have been scarred by industrial unrest.
To a degree, it is a false impression. There have been high-profile disputes—a strike by London Underground workers paralyzed the capital for two days in June; an 11-week strike by binmen in Leeds ended in November, having prompted predictions of a repeat of the Winter of Discontent in 1978-79. And yet the number of days lost to disputes has, in fact, dropped. It fell from 1.16 million in the year to September 2008 to 204300 days in 2009, well below the ten-year average.
The good news, however, has a sting in the tail. The economic downturn may have pushed the numbers down and as Britain emerges, belatedly, from the slump, trouble may be brewing. A similar drop in stoppages occurred in the last recession of 1991 and 1992 as employees could not afford to strike.