SWEDISH SYNDICALISTS CALL FOR GENERAL STRIKE
The Swedish anarcho-syndicalist organization Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation (Central Organization of the Workers of Sweden- the SAC) have called for a general strike against planned government legislation for tomorrow, Nov. 15th. The government will introduce a bill on Nov. 16th on unemployment that will reduce unemployment benefits. The SAC's call has gone out to 2.5 million private sector employees as political strikes in the public sector are banned. The SAC only represents 7,000 of these people, but they are hoping that their call will "catch fire" with other workers represented by the 'official' unions in the LO. Anyone interested in this strike can follow developments on the SAC website at http://www.sac.se . See also the links section in this blog. The site has summaries in English and Spanish, but the "meat" of the matter is only in Swedish. Developments will also be followed on the Anarchismo site (also see the links on this page) in various languages.
The efforts of the Swedish comrades will be supported by a number of the unions affiliated with International Libertarian Solidarity such as the CGT of Spain, the CNT-f of France, the ESE of Greece, the ACI of Portugal and the CKL and AIP of Poland. These unions plan solidarity actions on the 15th in support of the SAC. Various platformist groups have also expressed solidarity with the SAC.
Swedish law permits political strikes in the private sector, but these are generally prohibited by the collective agreements that the major labour federation, the LO, enters into with employers. The bosses of the LO have even threatened to sue their own members if they participate in the SAC call. Quick spelling-bee question. How do you spell "t..r..a..i..t..o..r" in Swedish ? But what more can one expect from union bosses, with their good "socialist" careers at stake ?
Molly wishes the SAC well, but she is doubtful about the effectiveness of the call given the opposition of the major union bosses. Hopefully enough Swedish workers are disgusted enough by the actions of their "leaders" that they will desert the LO for the SAC in the near future.