Over 80 workplaces around the country are threatened with strike from Monday morning. It mainly concerns private-run elderly care homes and various private healthcare facilities.
It is the LO union Kommunal and the private healthcare provider Vårdföretagarna that are quarreling – according to the union, because the employers do not want to agree to the demand for equal payment for overtime for part-time employees as for full-time employees.
Mediators are involved, and according to information, a proposal is expected to land with the parties on Saturday, which they will then take a stance on.
”Complicated to get it together”
If no solution is reached, the employer party estimates that the strike will have significant effects. It is a broad warning that the union has issued, against over 80 different elderly care homes and healthcare facilities. Nurses, caregivers, cooks, and cleaners are among the affected occupational groups. The number of employees that Kommunal has taken out on strike, the union does not want to comment on. In total, around 50,000 employees work within the areas covered by the agreement.
It will be complicated to get together both on elderly care homes and healthcare facilities in terms of personnel, says Erik Lindén, communications manager at Vårdföretagarna.
The fact that the conflict comes in the middle of summer planning makes it even more complicated, as a new recruitment blockade is starting at the same time.
Even the cleaning industry
Some healthcare providers consider Vårdföretagarna to be of extra critical nature, which is why the employers will meet with the union to get some strike-bound facilities exempted.
Alongside Kommunal's strike warning, the unions Fastighets and Seko have also sharpened their conflict tools. From Monday, a strike will begin against several major companies, including Astra Zeneca, Scania, Volvo, Viking Line, LKAB, and Cloetta, unless a solution is reached before then. The disputed issue is the same as Kommunal is driving – that overtime should be compensated in the same way as regular work.
