Nov. 15: SAC calls for strike by 2.5 million workers

scandinavia / denmark / iceland | economy | news report Friday November 03, 2006 20:47 by Ronny Stansert

The Swedish syndicalist union SAC calls upon all 2.5 million Swedish private sector workers to engage in a political strike against the proposal to cut of the subsidies to unemployed* and the total reform of the unemployment system, by the new right-wing Swedish government. The proposal is to reduce the payment to the unemployed. This has awakened the sleepy working movement in Sweden.

Rough translation. All errors are mine
--mitch (personal capacity)

The Swedish syndicalist union SAC calls upon all 2.5 million Swedish private sector workers to engage in a political strike against the proposal to cut of the subsidies to unemployed* and the total reform of the unemployment system, by the new right-wing Swedish government. The proposal is to reduce the payment to the unemployed. This has awakened the sleepy working movement in Sweden.

The Swedish syndicalist union SAC calls upon all 2.5 million Swedish private sector workers to engage in a political strike against the proposal to cut of the subsidies to unemployed* and the total reform of the unemployment system, by the new right-wing Swedish government. The proposal is to reduce the payment to the unemployed. This has awakened the sleepy working movement in Sweden.

All the unions are making different forms of actions, meetings of companies, official notices of protests, threats to allow garbage to pile up outside the seat of the government etc.

The most radical action comes from the libertarian union, SAC. Today the SAC has issued a call for general strike for the 15 of November against the proposal. The proposal comes to a vote on 16 November in the Swedish parliament. The official call of the SAC goes out to all 2.5 million private sector workers, although the SAC only has affiliated 7000 thousands. All the workers in the private sector (in the public sector political strikes are prohibited) can legally follow the SAC call. The Secretary General of SAC, Moa Norell, explains today in an article in Aftonbladet (the largest circulation newspaper in Sweden) (http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/debatt/story/0,2789,922180,00.html) that all those workers can participate in political strike although they have prohibited all union strikes (since the large unions are tied by the collective agreements). In all Sweden the 15 of November there are mobilizations for a 2 hour political strike... The SAC calls on all its affiliates to for f 24 hours. The readers who know the Swedish can follow the preparations of strike in the page SAC Web http://www.sac.se

Ronny Stansert


The proposal is to cut unemployment insurance by cutting the government’s financial contribution by 50 per cent. The Swedish reformist trade union central notes that the Government proposal is being made “in order to finance tax cuts and reforms for those not being affected by unemployment”. The LO further reports that “Every year some 600 000 persons receive compensation from the unemployment insurance [fund].
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SAC convoca a 2,5 millones de trabajadores suecos a huelga política

SAC convoca hoy a 2,5 millones de trabajadores suecos a una huelga política en contra de la propuesta de recortes del subsidios a los desempleados y la reforma total de las cajas de desempleo, por parte del nuevo gobierno de derechas en Suecia.

La propuesta de encarecer la participación en las cajas de desempleo para los trabajadores y reducir el pago a los parados ha despertado al dormido movimiento trabajador en Suecia. Todos los sindicatos están haciendo diferentes tipos
de acciones, recogido de firmas, comunicados de protestas, amenazas de tirar basura fuera de la sede del gobierno etc. La acción más radical viene del sindicato libertario, SAC, que hoy ha convocado una huelga para el 15 de noviembre
en contra de la propuesta que sera ratificada el 16 en el parlamento sueco.

La convocatoria oficial de la SAC contiene el llamamento a 2,5 millones de trabajadores, aunque la SAC sólo tiene 7000 mil afiliados. Todos los
trabajadores en el sector privado (en el sector público las huelgas políticas son prohibidas) pueden legalmente seguir la convocatoria de SAC.

La secretaria general de SAC, Moa Norell, explica en un artículo hoy en Aftonbladet (el periódico más grande de Suecia) (
http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/debatt/story/0,2789,922180,00.html ) que todos aquellos trabajadores pueden participar en la huelga política aunque tienen prohibido todas las huelgas sindicales (ya que los grandes sindicatos están atados por los convenios colectivos).

En toda Suecia están movilizando para poder parar el país durante dos horas el 15 de noviembre. Para los afiliados de SAC la convocatoria de huelga es de 24 horas.

Los lectores que saben el sueco pueden seguir las preparaciones de la huelga en la página web de SAC http://www.sac.se

Ronny Stansert