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14 November, 2005
Svenska Pappers, the ICEM paperworkers’ affiliated union in Sweden, could strike ABB Power Technologies at its Figeholm mill near Oskarshamn tomorrow.
The union won a unanimous victory in a Swedish labour court last week, giving it the right to strike as well as granting sympathy actions by unions representing electrical, construction and transport workers.
A Swedish-based multinational primarily engaged in engineering and papermaking equipment, the pressure now is on ABB to settle. The company has been stonewalling a collective agreement for 130 workers at the paperboard mill for two years, refusing to match work and social standards already in place in Sweden’s paper sector. “ABB simply has refused to give paperworkers at the ABB Figeholm mill their rights, which exist for the rest of paperworkers in Sweden,” said Sune Ekbåge, president of Svenska Pappers.
The positive labour court ruling did prompt ABB to return to talks with the union on 12 November and again today in efforts to prevent a strike.