Breaking finance and business news, tax information, jobs and more for finance directors and senior finance professionals.

Days lost rose almost fivefold to 755,000 in 2006 compared with 157,000 the previous year according to the Office of National Statistics. The increase was larger than the rise in 2005 and came mainly from strikes by workers in local government, Revenue & Customs tax offices and other civil servants.

Publication of the figures came as public-sector workers threatened strikes during the summer of 2007 over the government’s attempts to limit pay increases to control public spending.

The British Chambers of Commerce’s head of policy, Natalie Evans, said: “This quite substantial rise in the number of days lost to industrial action is a worrying sign. Days lost to strikes in the private sector have almost doubled while people working in the public sector are showing an ever-increasing willingness to walk out or strike.

“The impact of strike action, whether in the private or public sectors, reverberates around the economy. Stable industrial relations are a necessary precondition for any business.”

There is evidence that strike ballots are being used as negotiating tools by workers, however. Some 1,341 ballots were held in 2006 with 96 per cent voting for action but only 158 strikes resulted. Two-thirds of actions lasted no more than 24 hours.

The 755,000 days lost in 2006 were the highest for two years but are well below 1970s and 1980s levels when more than 25m days were lost in certain years. Trade union membership has fallen from 13.2m workers in 1979 to only 7.5m now, though most members are in the public sector. Some 59 per cent of state employees belong to unions compared with just 17 per cent of the private sector.