"The employers backed off completely," Sundberg said. On April 26 the union had refused to sign a contract, which did not include increasing the prepayment of expected piece-rate wages from 85 percent to 90 percent of the total that construction workers traditionally receive. "It was not really about money," said Sundberg, "but about us getting more of our wages a little earlier." The rest of the piece rate pay is paid out between three and five months later after the rate has been settled.

The Construction Workers Union signed a three-year contract covering 60,000 construction workers in Sweden, which included an 8.5 percent wage increase during the three years. Holiday pay will be paid for all holidays, which was not the case before. The contract also includes a small reduction in work hours during the last year of the contract.

"The unity behind our strike is total," explained Lasse Widlund, one of the pickets at Kista Tower on the first day of the strike. Two other workers, Jocke Franzén and Jukka Savela, were picketing outside the construction site of what will become a new embassy for Finland in central Stockholm. "A strike is quite okay," said Franzén. "We are quite united behind our demands."

There has been a decade-long conflict between the employers and the construction workers union around how wages are paid. The employers favor individual wages and the construction workers union wants to maintain the piece-rate wages that are paid out equally to the whole team working on a certain job. A lower percentage of the wages paid out before the rate is settled was looked upon by the union as a step towards favoring the kind of wage system advocated by the employers.

Catharina Tirsén is a member of the Metal Workers Union at Ericsson Radio Access in Kista, Stockholm.  
 
 
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