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Builders' union calls for boycott of Polish project

Elizabeth Dacey-Fondelius
Elizabeth Dacey-Fondelius - [email protected]
Builders' union calls for boycott of Polish project

The Swedish Building Workers’ Union has called for solidarity among several affiliates of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation to put the squeeze on a Polish construction firm currently renovating a restaurant in Alingsås.

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The Building Workers’ Union and the owner of the Polish firm, Proxy B have yet to reach an agreement on a Swedish collective agreement for employees. This motivated a picket line organized by the construction union back in February.

The protest has so far proved toothless. Polish construction workers continue to work oblivious to the red notices posted outside by the union and no Swedish workers are involved in the project.

"The unions we have sought support from are somehow involved in the construction business, transport among others. It should have some effect on the project," Tomas Nilsson, spokesman for the local construction workers chapter in Borås, told TT.

The union has submitted a written request for Arbesmiljöverket to inspect the building site.

"We are unable to oversee the work environment and we suspect there are a number of violations," said Nilsson.

In December, the Swedish Labour Court backed the Swedish Building Workers’ Union in its blockade of a building site outside Stockholm, where Lativian builders were working.

The union objected to the presence of builders from Latvian company Laval on a building site in Vaxholm, where they were working on the construction of a school. Again, the union argued that because the Latvians had not signed a Swedish collective agreement they shold not have been allowed to carry out work in Sweden.

Another contested construction site involves a development at Ramviks campground in Bohuslän by the Latvian construction firm SIA ROK - also without a Swedish collective agreement.

The protest has had no effect after two weeks.

Sources: Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, SR

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