The unionists are demanding a raise in basic monthly wages from US$1,155 (80,000 Kronur) to $1,300 for new employees, and from $1,300 to $1,660 for workers with more seniority.

Strike committee member Heimir Bergmann, a public transport bus driver, described the conditions facing the drivers. If a worker is sick, instead of providing a replacement, the company forces a driver who already has been driving a whole shift to fill in.

Some drivers are forced to work very long hours for extended periods, especially in the summer months of June to August. In addition, there are not enough buses, leading to overcrowded vehicles and more chances of passengers getting hurt in traffic accidents, for which the driver is usually held responsible.

"The strike is not primarily about money," Ingi Sverrisson, a member of the union negotiating committee, emphasized. "The employers want to prevent the growth of the union."

About one-third of the Reykjavik city bus drivers, today organized in the Staff Union of the City of Reykjavik, are in the process of leaving that union and joining Sleipnir before the end of this year. The Reykjavik City Buses company has been on a campaign to try to prevent them from doing so by claiming they will lose their pension rights. That is a lie, Sverrisson explained, because workers who change unions will remain members of their pension fund program.

Truck drivers, who to a large extent are not organized, are discussing joining Sleipnir too.

"The union died but came to life again over a decade ago," said Sverrisson. And it has been a fight. "Some owners of bus companies tell newly hired drivers they cannot be members of Sleipnir, that if they join it means dismissal." The strikers have received wide support, explained Sverrisson and strike committee member Sigurdur Flosason.

Icelandair, an employer with a notorious antiunion history, initially had scabs drive the buses inside the airport area and prevented pickets from going into the airport. So the striking drivers appealed for support from workers there.

The first union to declare its support to Sleipnir was the flight attendants union, which announced a meeting to discuss whether to call a solidarity strike. Faced with a call from the International Transport Workers Union for solidarity actions in airports where Icelandair lands, the airline bosses backed down.

The employers have used the courts against Sleipnir. In the first three weeks of the strike, judges issued three injunctions against the union.

The court orders forbid picketing against companies that claim they do not have to respect a contract with Sleipnir even though they are members of the employers' organization, which is negotiating with Sleipnir.

The injunctions have been issued on the basis that these companies have succeeded in keeping Sleipnir out, allowing in other unions whose leaderships are more accommodating to the bosses' demands, Sverrisson explained.

Workers interviewed expressed confidence in their ability to win their strike. The mood was registered at the union meeting where all but two workers voted in favor of walking out.

"Some people were saying this [strike] would spell the death of the union," Bergmann said. "But it is the opposite--the union is stronger now."  
 
 
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