Workers were called out on strike just 25 times in the Netherlands last year, leading to the loss of 5,000 working days, the national statistics office CBS said on Thursday.

The total is the lowest figure since 1985. In 2008, 121,000 days were lost through strike action.
Almost half of the strikes last year affected manufacturing and industry and conflicts over pay or reorganisations were the most common causes. In six cases, strikes were called in response to violence against staff.
This year, however, the total is likely to be far higher. The cleaning sector has been on strike for weeks and industrial action is pending in several other sectors as employers demand workers accept a pay freeze.