The strike involved all “unskilled” workers in private businesses. In the beginning the unions demanded a raise of 25 Danish kroner (DK) per hour (US$3.98) over the next two years. In the course of the strike they lowered their demand to 8.6 DK (US$1.37), plus a 2 percent raise in the pension. The employers highest offer before the settlement was a 4 DK ($0.64) raise

In the end, union officials negotiated an extension of the previous contract for two years, until April 30, 2005, with a few changes. These include an 8.6 DK hourly wage increase, a clause that forces employers to supply special gear needed to perform certain jobs, and a raise in the piece-rate paid to workers on the docks. As we go to press, the union had not announced the results of the vote by the rank-and-file.

A large number of the workers on strike work in fish processing, which is the main industry on the islands, and on the docks. The home government of the islands, which the Danish imperialists have occupied since 1814, threatened to intervene in the strike “to save the valuables”—the fish that were not being unloaded from trawlers and the breeding fish, they claim, that were being damaged. Grétar Thorsteinsson, president of ASÍ, the labor federation in Iceland, issued a statement encouraging its affiliates and their members to show solidarity with their fellow workers in the Faeroe Islands by not unloading trawlers from there arriving at Icelandic ports. No Faeroeish trawler unloaded in Icelandic harbors during the strike.

The employers organized a number of strikebreaking attempts. On the last day of the walkout an attempt was made to unload the ferry Norraena, which sails with passengers and cargo across the North Atlantic. When strikers prevented the ferry from being unloaded the police came and cleared the way for scabs and arrested a group of unionists. A statement issued by the unions said that this attack shows the authorities are in cahoots with the bosses and use the police against striking workers. The employers did not succeed in sowing mistrust among the workers, but made them stick together even tighter, the statement declared.

The strike also had more wide-ranging effects. Schools closed during the walkout as school janitors also joined the strike. Food stores and gas stations shut down as well since their supplies were on boats sitting loaded in the harbor.

The unions issued a statement on June 6 thanking all “pickets and captains, cooks, bus drivers, and everyone who gave a helping hand during the strike, and those who donated skerpu meat [dried lamb] and other good things.”  
 
 
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