Some of the workers now on strike will only be out for a week. They will be followed by other workers staying off the job for a week. The strike will culminate May 12–25, when 46,000 union members will join the walkout. During the partial strikes the union is trying to block overtime work and all hiring of new employees.

"I think the strike would have more effect if we went on for another week or more," said Anita Trogrlic, who was picketing outside a day-care center at Sandeslättsgatan 3 in Hammarkullen, Gothenburg.

"More people know how low our wages are now, which they did not know before," said Riitta Itkonen, another union member on the picket line. "I think we need to keep fighting, now that we finally have gotten this strike. Most parents support us."

"People tell us to keep fighting, don’t give up," said Rocio Falcon, another striker, while doing picket duty. "They think it’s good we are picketing, that we can be seen and noticed here."

More than 120 children regularly use this day-care center. During the strike, however, 60 or 70 children cannot attend. The rest will be looked after by nursery school teachers, who also work at day-care centers but under a different contract. "Parents find different solutions," said Itkonen. "Grandparents help out, and some take a few days off from work."

The walkout is affecting other workplaces when parents have to stay home for lack of child care. "One week is possible to handle, but if the strike continues we will have problems," said Ann-Christin Andersson, a spokeswoman from the Sahlgrenska hospital in Gothenburg.

Some nurses at this hospital are scheduled to go on strike April 29–May 5.

"I really get angry at [Swedish prime minister] Göran Persson when he says there is too little money because people are calling in sick too much," said Trogrlic. "But why don’t they ever ask themselves why people get sick?" she continued. "People get bad backs because of lifting children or bending down all the time. But we really had to fight just to get adjustable chairs, so you can sit down when you are undressing small children. And finally we got just one chair for each department in the day-care center. People get sick also because there are too many children in each group, it is too noisy, and there is too much pressure."

"But they would not even buy ear protection when we asked for it," Itkonen added. The four nurses picketing Sandesl- ättsgatan each earn less than 15,000 Swedish kronor (U.S. $1,800) per month. "If you are a single parent, it is hard to live on that. You get 9,000 kronor ($1,060) after taxes and most of that goes to the rent," said Itkonen, who has two children.

The nurses plan to demonstrate on May Day. They hope many members of the Municipal Workers Union will do the same. "It’s important," said Falcon. "We really want to be seen now!"

All the nurses at the different day-care centers take turns picketing. "It is very important that everybody gets a sense of participating in this strike," said Trogrlic.  
 
 
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