Wage deal keeps Sweden airport buses running
A planned solidarity strike by drivers of airport buses in Sweden has been called off after a public sector healthcare union reached a new wage agreement.
Drivers of the Flygbussarna airport buses in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö, as well as flight transfer bus lines Arlanda-Västerås and Arlanda-Stockholm threatened to leave air travelers stranded on Monday afternoon if the Kommunal health workers union was unable to strike a deal with the Association of Private Care Providers (Vårdföretagarna).
The planned strike was to be called out of solidarity for fellow Kommunal union-members who were negotiating for increased pay.
But late on Monday afternoon, the health care workers reached a new wage agreement where privately employed personal care assistants would receive a 3.3 percent wage increase effective for the next 15 months, according to Kommunal spokesperson Dan Lundqvist Dahlin.
The agreement, which is retroactive to March 1st of this year and extends to May 31st, 2013, also includes a number of other measures affecting employment conditions for care assistants, including a minimum salary and a two week notice period.
"The notice period applies to both employers and workers and is an improvement over current conditions whereby working hours can vary from day to day," Inga-Kari Fryklund of the Association of Private Care Providers told TT.
In light of the agreement, the threat of a health workers' strike has been averted, as has the threat of a solidarity strike by airport bus drivers.
TT/The Local/dl
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Drivers of the Flygbussarna airport buses in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö, as well as flight transfer bus lines Arlanda-Västerås and Arlanda-Stockholm threatened to leave air travelers stranded on Monday afternoon if the Kommunal health workers union was unable to strike a deal with the Association of Private Care Providers (Vårdföretagarna).
The planned strike was to be called out of solidarity for fellow Kommunal union-members who were negotiating for increased pay.
But late on Monday afternoon, the health care workers reached a new wage agreement where privately employed personal care assistants would receive a 3.3 percent wage increase effective for the next 15 months, according to Kommunal spokesperson Dan Lundqvist Dahlin.
The agreement, which is retroactive to March 1st of this year and extends to May 31st, 2013, also includes a number of other measures affecting employment conditions for care assistants, including a minimum salary and a two week notice period.
"The notice period applies to both employers and workers and is an improvement over current conditions whereby working hours can vary from day to day," Inga-Kari Fryklund of the Association of Private Care Providers told TT.
In light of the agreement, the threat of a health workers' strike has been averted, as has the threat of a solidarity strike by airport bus drivers.
TT/The Local/dl
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