From 9-11 October 2001, some 200 drivers of passenger trains run by the Swedish Railway System (Statens Järnvägar, SJ) went on strike for 48 hours. A few hours after the actions stopped, 150 drivers of goods trains run by the Green Cargo rail freight company took similar strike action, from 11-14 October. About 50,000 train passengers were affected by the first strike, the costs of which are estimated at SEK 5 million. About 30% of railway goods traffic was affected by the second strike, which cost about SEK 9 million.
In October 2001, about 350 Swedish train drivers went on strike. The drivers, who are members of SLFF, a trade union which does not belong to Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO), want their own collective pay agreement.
From 9-11 October 2001, some 200 drivers of passenger trains run by the Swedish Railway System (Statens Järnvägar, SJ) went on strike for 48 hours. A few hours after the actions stopped, 150 drivers of goods trains run by the Green Cargo rail freight company took similar strike action, from 11-14 October. About 50,000 train passengers were affected by the first strike, the costs of which are estimated at SEK 5 million. About 30% of railway goods traffic was affected by the second strike, which cost about SEK 9 million.
The Swedish Engine Drivers' Union (Svensk lokförarförening, SLFF), which called the strikes, is an independent trade union with around 450 members, which does not belong to the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen, LO). The remaining train drivers are organised in the LO-affiliated Union of Civil Servants (Statstjänstemannaförbundet, ST) and Union for Service and Communication (Facket för Service och kommunikation, SEKO). The employers' organisation for the rail sector is Almega, which belongs to Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv).
A new collective agreement on pay has recently been concluded by Almega, ST and SEKO, but SSLF has refused to accept the deal. SLFF wants a collective agreement of its own and has presented a set of demands to Almega. The employers refused to bargain with SLFF and the strike actions resulted (after the relevant legal procedure had been followed). SLFF is demanding:
a general retirement age of 60 (under the SEKO/ST agreement, the age is currently 65 for newly-recruited drivers, with 60 applying only to employees with longer service);
seven weeks of annual leave (currently six weeks under the SEKO/ST agreement);
a starting salary of SEK 25,000 per month; and
a shorter working week, as low as 25 hours for drivers working at night.
SEKO and ST do not support SLFF's demands, which they regard as excessive. As well as the fact that current wage levels for drivers represented by SEKO and ST are lower than demanded by SLFF, the two LO unions are primarily opposed to competition between unions, which they see as being against the aims of trade unions. Whereas SLFF demands free competition between unions, the SEKO and ST believe that SLFF is undermining the whole trade union movement. If there are several different trade unions covering the same workers, the employers will play the unions off against each other, LO argues.
Almega states that it refuses to sign a collective agreement in addition to those already concluded with SEKO and ST because such an agreement with SLFF would be in conflict with the 'industry union principle'. This means that the employers' organisation bargains only with a few trade unions in the same sector, the collective agreement becomes representative for the whole sector and the trade unions concerned take full responsibility for it.
The strike actions ended in mid-October. The board of SLFF was due to meet and decide on possible further actions in November. The SLFF chair, Dan Gustavsson, says that the union will not give in and that it has plenty of money in its strike funds.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2001), Train drivers strike for own pay agreement, article.
