Reduced right to strike in Sweden
Help the workers of Sweden to fight for their right to strike!!
"Swedens feminist government plans reduced right to strike for free unions"
On August 1, the right to strike will be restricted in Sweden. The new laws will strengthen the culture of silence on thousands of workplaces, risking an increase of harassments and discrimination against precarious workers. The new laws will also allow for wagedumping as Sweden does not have a legislated minimum wage, introduce so called “yellow unions” (unions controlled by the boss) and restrict freedom of speech in the workplace among with other democratic rights.
In other terms, this renders all forms of industrial action illegal apart from attempts to force employers to sign a collective bargaining agreement if they haven’t done so before – and even in this case, workers and their organizations are not allowed to use industrial actions against a company to make sure the collective agreement is being followed. Once almost all forms of industrial action will be outlawed, entire workers’ organizations can be ruined.
"Sweden defends union rights abroad but strikes down on them at home"
SAC is the only union in Sweden who organizes migrant workers. These are paperless workers and migrants with temporary work permits that are exploited in the construction industry, agriculture, in the restaurant industry, in the engineering industry and in the cleaning industry. In all these industries, a shadow society has emerged in the middle of large established companies. Rules and regulations are being ignored by the bosses and because of the precarious situation of the migrant workers no one is allowed or able to protest. Those who do risks losing their jobs and the right to stay in the country.
"Swedish government strikes down on free trade unions"
The great centralized and government-friendly unions, LO, SACO and TCO agrees to an unholy alliance between union bosses, the government and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Employers organization) to restrict the right to strike, which will come into force on 1 August. The big unions do this directly against the will of their own members, thinking that the new laws only will hurt the free unions. They do not realize that it is not the law who governs the actions of free unions. It is the working conditions that govern the actions of free unions. They do not understand the power of solidarity and has lost the interest and will for class struggle.
"Sweden's human rights' record takes a blow with reduced right to strike"
What we see is a rapidly changing labor market and decrease in democracy.
To address the changes, new ideas, new creative forms of organization are needed. In Skåne, south of Sweden, last week a spectacular union victory was proclaimed. Romanian workers formed their own trade union within the SAC. With almost none of their rights respected by the boss they fought firmly for all members and won! It is a migrant organization that is probably unprecedented in the last decade. These workers will also be deprived of their right to protest from the first of August. However, they will not stop fighting for their rights!
We who organize migrants and other forms of precarious workers react with amazement and disgust at LO, SACO and TCO's downward attacks, towards the most vulnerable of the labor market. We call upon all freedom loving people abroad as well as in Sweden to raise your voices against all actions that limits our democratic freedoms and rights!
Please send an e-mail to the following people responsible for this attack on the working class of Sweden and in the long run also against the working class of Europe and the world!
Ylva Johansson. Minister of labor. (Government):
arbetsmarknadsdepartementet.registrator@regeringskansliet.se
Fredrik Persson. CEO Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Employers organization):
Fredrik.Persson@svensktnaringsliv.se
Anna Fogelberg. Secretary to the CEO of LO (Union boss):
Göran Arrius. CEO of SACO (Union boss):
Eva Nordmark. CEO of TCO (Union boss):
Cut and paste the following:
In the 1990s, the Swedish Social Democratic Party embraced neo-liberal policies, privatizing huge parts of the public sector, including clinics, schools, postal services, the transport system, and council flats. The center-right government that ruled the country from 2006 to 2014 accelerated these developments. Across the country, eligibility for unemployment and invalidity benefits have been cut substantially. And the once powerful unions have been losing much influence, not least due to large economic sectors being absorbed by the gig economy (from delivery, cleaning, and catering to cultural, academic and IT work).
If any further proof was needed both for the misperception of Sweden as a quasi-socialist country, the increasing attacks on the workers' movement's, and the class betrayal of the Social Democratic leadership, it has been delivered by a June 2018 proposal to change important sections of Swedish labor law.
This is an attack on the democratic rights and freedoms of all working people in Sweden and as a foreigner totally transforms the image of Sweden as just and equal country.
How can you, one of those responsible for this development, want to decrease democracy in your country? The world needs MORE democracy! Not less!