The Seko trade union has announced a strike in the rail traffic, due to the poor working conditions of the train staff.
Originally, the strike was due to be triggered at 3pm on Thursday, with Öresundstågen first in line for a three-stage rail strike. Now the strike looks set to start on Monday instead. If no new agreement is concluded before then, that is.
The disagreement between Seko and the counterparty Almega mainly revolves around scheduling and recovery. The staff need to be able to plan their lives and rest after the shifts. Two completely reasonable demands, which rarely seem to be met.
The reports about the lousy work environment have been pouring in: late schedule changes at SJ, reduced recovery for cleaning staff at the Stockholm Pendeln, staff who are allowed to work on their free time.
“This is nothing more than a more modern form of serfdom,” writes Seko’s union president Gabriella Lavecchia in a press release. There she also says that the majority of Seko’s members find it difficult to combine their work with leisure and family life.
She asks the obvious question: is this how we should have it? The answer is of course no.
Conditions that received media attention
The conditions of the train drivers and train attendants have been in the media all spring. Not least because of SJ’s announcement that a lack of staff prevents the summer trains between Malmö and Gothenburg completely, and the wild strike in Stockholm’s commuter train traffic.
The latter caused Stockholm’s traffic councilor Anton Fendert (MP) to rage: he called the strike “gratuitous extortion”. It is an interesting position considering that his party proposed both a price cap and Sweden card for public transport. (Then it’s good to have someone working on the trains.)
And there have been clues that it is wise to care about the staff, funny enough in the same country where the Green Party probably got the inspiration for its Sweden Card.
In Germany, a national public transport ticket was launched last summer, on a trial basis. In terms of travel, it was a success: for a paltry nine euros per month, residents could travel freely throughout the country, and travel increased drastically.
The staff then? They were given no extra resources, and little time to prepare. There was a lack of space, delays – and the employees had to toil. As always.
Cannot be replaced by cameras and AI
Politicians and train operators may think that every single human cell can be replaced with cameras and AI technology, but for now, it is real people who clean, repair and drive our trains.
Instead of driving the employees to the bottom and teaching them when they are burnt out, all efforts should be about recruitment and staff care.
Strikes tend to be harshly criticized by business and the right. The media often and happily write about the “victims of the strike”: angry travelers who can’t get to work, angry taxpayers who seethe when money goes up in smoke.
Those kinds of news articles will explode if the strike actually breaks out. The voices heard will remind you of Anton Fender’s.
Obviously lousy conditions
However, we know that Sweden’s train staff have enormous support from their passengers. The conditions have become obviously wretched, the staff shortage acute.
Most people who travel on a daily basis by regional train, commuter train or subway know this.
But this may be worth remembering: in a strike, the passengers’ suffering is the staff’s only capital.
You who are affected by a canceled train: toughen up. It is also part of the Swedish model.
