Workers in Sweden Postpone Strike
Responding to an appeal by mediators, a Swedish white-collar workers union Tuesday postponed a strike by 18,000 employees that would have triggered a conflict involving 350,000 more workers.
The PTK, a union federation of white-collar workers, gave national mediators another 48 hours to forge a two-year wage contract with the Swedish Employers Federation.
The union had planned to send 18,000 white-collar workers on selective strikes at 50 companies, including a nuclear power plant, unless a settlement was reached before 2 p.m. Tuesday.
“This is an extremely serious situation for the country,” union spokesman Sten Olof Heldt said. “Even if there is just a ray of hope that this conflict could be solved peacefully, one must try it. We believe it is worth 48 hours.”
The walkout was to have been followed by a strike by another 50,000 white-collar employees at midnight tonight and a retaliatory lockout of yet another 300,000 PTK member workers by employers.
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