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Sweden in narrow escape from loo roll shortage

Published: 13 Apr 12 08:02 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/40238/20120413/

The looming toilet paper dearth in Sweden following threats of a solidarity strike among Swedish paper workers is over, after retail and stockroom employees on Thursday agreed to the mediators’ bid.

“We were very close to a strike of course,” said head negotiator for retail union Handels to news agency TT on Thursday evening.

“Five and a half hours away,“ added union head Lars-Anders Häggström.

Several Swedish toilet paper factories had threatened to strike as well in a show of solidarity with Handels.

This action, which was set to go in effect on April 23rd, meant that the toilet paper and paper towel supplies in stores across Sweden could have been wiped out.

However, new employment agreements were reached Thursday night, giving retail workers a raise of 710 kronor ($105) and stock room employees a monthly increase of 665 kronor.

If either of the parties had turned down the latest offer from the employers, a strike would have been imminent, with the result of several ensuing solidarity actions.

According to the unions, the reason for the lengthy talks was that negotiations were complex and delicate, but finally Handels got what it wanted and chose to call back the threat of a strike.

“We have signed a deal and we are very pleased with that,” Häggström told TT.

On the employers’ side there is also relief that the parties managed to come to agreement.

According to Dag Klackenberg, CEO of the retail employers association Svensk Handel, both parties started out with salary expectations very far removed from one another.

However, they managed to position themselves somewhere in the middle with a 2.6 percent salary increase, satisfying both sides.

TT/The Local/rm
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08:59 April 13, 2012 by SimonDMontfort
...looks like I won't be needing those old newspapers after all. Lol!
19:17 April 13, 2012 by johan rebel
Without toilet paper, Swedes might finally have learned the obvious:

1. A healthy person on a healthy diet does not really need toilet paper. The human body is such a clever design that it actually lubricates the faeces to allow a smooth and clean evacuation.

2. All the fatsos who lie on the couch all day stuffing themselves with junk food still have up to ten fingers each. That, and a bit of water, is all you need to clean the anal orifice.
16:32 April 14, 2012 by acidcritic
Don`t worry, Sweden is full of trees, branches and leaves. Otherwise, use the complete works of Mao Tse Tung, Lenin, Marx, or the books of some Literature Nobel Prize winners.
18:31 April 14, 2012 by HYBRED
I found Swedish toilet paper interesting. Buying toilet paper in Sweden is like buying sand paper in the USA. It comes in different grits. Some fine, and some nasty rough.
02:44 April 15, 2012 by italy81
Well,at least there will be less bleeding hemorrhoids around.
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