Swedish/Latvian unions protest employers dirty tactics, support Irish Ferries protest

international | worker & community struggles and protests | other press Friday December 09, 2005 07:37 by R. Isible - Indymedia Ireland

EIRO Online: Dispute over pay of Latvian building workers in Sweden

In December 2004, Swedish trade unions launched a boycott of Laval & Partneri, a Latvian construction firm that is carrying out building work at a site near Stockholm, calling for the Latvian workers involved to be paid the same as their Swedish counterparts. The conflict has attracted considerable attention in Latvia, with the government stating that EU free market rules are being breached, and employers' organisations and trade unions becoming involved

The President of the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia LBAS (Peteris Krigers) is quoted in the Dec 9th issue of the Irish Independent as saying in a piece by Edel Kennedy titled "City gridlock warning as unions march" : "Latvian unions have also voiced support and LBAS President Peteris Krigers said they were in favour of the protest day. He said Latvia faced a number of problems with disputes such as the Laval case in Sweden, where a Latvian contractor was proposing to bring in Latvian workers for less than Swedish rates. "