Severe Fines For Swedish Strikers

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32014, 14 June 1969, Page 7

Severe Fines For Swedish Strikers

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) STOCKHOLM. Wildcat strikes, outlawed in Sweden for more than 40 years, sometimes take place but they are very rare—there were only two last year.

The Labour Court in this welfare State which has had a Socialist Government for 36 years is empowered to inflict severe fines on workers should the strike be officially declared illegal. Wildcat strikers can be penalised by fines of up to 200 crowns (about SNZ3S) each. If their union supports an illegal strike it could also receive a heavy fine to compensate the employer for lost time.

The first of last year’s wildcat strikes lasted one day. It concerned 206 workers of the Boliden Mining Company, in northern Sweden, who struck after a disagreement over the interpretation of piecework rates. The company brought the case before the Labour Court, which unanimously decided the strike was illegal. Each of the strikers was ordered to compensate the company for time lost through fines ranging from 100 crowns ($l7) to about 150 crowns (about $25). The second case was a halfday strike by 68 workers at the Bofors Armament Works —also over the question of piecework rates. Once again the Labour Court decided unanimously against the strikers and each was ordered to pay a fine of 100 crowns.

The court’s decisions are binding and final. There is no appeal. The wildcat strike and the lock-out by employers have been legally banned since 1928 under Sweden’s labour laws, which are grouped together under the common name of Industrial Peace Legislation. “It is really a question of mutual confidence between the unions and the employers,” a trade union spokesman said. “Once an agreement has been negotiated and signed, it automatically becomes legally binding on both parties during its period of validity, usually one or two years, and no offensive action by either side is permitted under law.” According to Swedish labour laws, an agreement is binding and must be honoured by both sides until it expires. If. a wildcat strike takes place it is up to the employer to decide whether it is serious enough for him to sue the workers for compensation. The Labour Court consists of two trade union officials, two employers’ representatives and three independent

jurists, with the court’s president usually a former judge of the Supreme Court. The court has already ruled that the union to which wildcat strikers belong must actively intervene to try and get its members back to work. The union leaders must call a meeting and request their members to resume work. If this fails, the union has to resort to the rules of its constitution under which strikers can be expelled for illegal action.