More days lost to strikes in NI than anywhere else in UK

That is the picture painted by official statistics, revealing that a 81,000 workers involved in industrial disputes went on strike.

This is the lowest figure since records began in 1893.

Days lost to strikes last year were the second lowest on record despite a number of public sector disputes.

A total of 170,000 days were lost to strike action.

This was well down on the figure of 788,000 for 2014, said the Office for National Statistics.

The lowest annual figure since records began was 2005, when there were 157,000 days lost.

Transport and storage, including the railways, was where most days were lost last year (at 60,200).

Northern Ireland had the highest rate of days lost, at 21 per 1,000 employees.

This was followed by London at 15.

The North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, the East Midlands, the West Midlands and the East all had rates of one day.

The biggest number of days lost last year were in disputes over pay (71 per cent).

This was followed by disputes over redundancies.

Most disputes lasted no more than three days, with 30 per cent being just one day.

The percentage of disputes lasting more than one day was noticeably higher in 2015 than in recent years at 70 per cent, compared with 54 per cent in 2014 and 37 per cent in 2013.