The workers organized sickouts and refused to start work under the concessions demanded by the bosses, which led to severe curtailment of train service and cancellation in towns the farthest away from here. Protests by residents demanding resumption of service took place in several towns during February.

"I am one of the drivers who went to work for Citypendeln after the new contract was signed," said Johnny Olsson March 2 as he waited on the platform at the central station in Stockholm to start his shift on the commuter train. "The earlier contract was terrible but this one is better."

Citypendeln took over operating the commuter trains in the Stockholm area January 6. Many of the 630 train drivers (engineers), conductors, and other workers showed their opposition to the conditions Citypendeln wanted to impose by calling in sick on October 27 and 28. Despite this, the union leaders signed a contract December 22 with several concessions the workers had opposed.

Some 140 workers refused to sign on with the new company, on top of the 50 workers who had already gotten other jobs. Because of lack of workers, trains have been running at half capacity, and have been replaced by buses to the stations at the end of the lines.

"We wanted to work," Olsson explained. "But we refused to sign on because we had to choose between working under conditions that would either render us a heart attack within 10 years or not work at all. That 150 workers did not sign on should not have come as a surprise to the company. They knew what we wanted."

Olsson explained that the new contract, signed February 20, contains improved work schedules, especially shorter early morning shifts, something the workers had demanded for safety reasons.

Another train driver, who did not give his name, agreed that the schedules now are better. After the former CEO of Citypendeln was forced to resign on January 13, he said, negotiations and conditions improved. Workers have gotten back rooms that enable them to stay overnight, and parking places for those who start early or finish late.

On February 7 several hundred people living in Nynäshanm, at the end of one of the lines, attended a protest meeting. By February 10 some 6,000 people in that town had signed petitions to protest cancellation of the trains. On February 9, 300 people in Gnesta, at the end of another line, held a protest meeting. On February 21 about 100 people met at the railway station in Järna, another town where the trains had not been running. Local politicians threatened to organize a demonstration on the rails, thereby blocking train traffic on the main southbound railroad out of Stockholm, but then backed away from that action.

The meeting adopted a statement demanding the resignation of members of the board of local traffic in the Stockholm area and an end to privatizations. Several people at the meeting expressed solidarity with the train drivers and conductors.

Claudio Burgos, Lars Erlandsson, and Carl-Erik Isacsson contributed to this article.  
 
 
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