The date for the implementation of the Single European Act is now less than four years away. In this paper, it is argued that, even if the deadline for implementation is met, it is unlikely that any great increase in labour mobility will accompany the expected growth in trade and capital movements that liberalisation is aimed to promote. In this situation, labour relations in individual member states may have a significant role to play in influencing the directions in which resources will flow. As strike statistics are frequently taken as a summary indicator of disharmony within labour markets, the recent UK record is examined in order to assess its ability to meet the new challenges which 1992 will issue.