Socialist leader Gunnar Smári Egilsson said the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, SA, staged a play to isolate Efling in wage negotiations. Gunnar Smári was a guest on the Spjallid show with Frosta Logasyn on the Brotkast podcast, where, among other things, he completely rejected that he or Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir, the president of Efling, see Halldór Benjamín Þorbergsson, the executive director of SA, as a representative of evil or something similar.
Made fun of the hair to the fullest
“We’re just contradicting what he says. I may have made a joke about his hair. But no, everyone was involved and now I usually do something that other people don’t,” said Gunnar Smari in Frosta. something new. We live in a time where no one remembers anything and thinks everything is unprecedented, but this has never happened before.”
Last strike in 1913
Gunnar Smári said he asked all the historians he knows and no one remembers anything like the SA strike in the pay dispute with Efling. The only thing like that would be the historic Dublin strike of 1913. SA laid down guidelines last summer on the conclusion of short-term contracts, they were imposed on the Trade Union and VR as part of a play. “What they wanted to get out of this series was to isolate Eflinga, to make her weak so she couldn’t continue the fight she was fighting. The strike was an action that was supposed to drain Efling’s strike fund” , explains Gunnar Smári.
Frosti said no one wanted strikes, but Gunnar Smári gave him a funny answer. “They thought he had to be killed, the strike was put in place because they thought Efling would commit harakiri and pay all the strike subsidies to empty the strike fund in six days.”
Illegal to impose a strike to drain funds
Frosti rejected this historical explanation. “They thought they would come back to the table after those actions.” Efling was forced to negotiate,” Frosti said.
Gunnar Smári said that completely wrong. “If you look at what Halldór Benjamín said when it was first discussed, two days later he said what you say. Because if he didn’t say that, the strike is illegal. He “It’s illegal to call a strike to drain funds or force the state to pass laws. It’s just to force negotiations. He won’t say that until another day,” he said.
“Before noon, when we first told him about it, he was busy with the strike fund. When Sólveig Anna said ‘we’re not going to pay, do you think we’re crazy?’ is really pissed, Efling is going to leave people starving in the streets As if he didn’t realize that the strike was announced on March 2, when people have just been paid, he should have held out until April, finish all the companies, but the people of Efling were not in trouble.”
You have to go on strike from time to time
Gunnar Smári says that strikes are an integral part of a wage struggle, a struggle integrated into democratic societies. Looking back a hundred years, people can see that this arrangement worked well. This provided the public with sick leave, social security, unemployment benefits, summer vacation and more. He is far from satisfied with the attitude of Halldór Benjamin and SA that strikes must be stopped because of their harmful effects. “It’s just a quarter in fascism.”
Frosti pointed out that if all unions were as militant as Efling, Icelanders would live with non-stop strikes, he asked Gunnar Smára if it wouldn’t be more civilized to negotiate before a strike. Gunnar Smári was quick to respond. “You have to go on strike from time to time to maintain the threat. So really all unions should send flowers to Efling. Reinforcement helps them by showing that there is something behind the threat. Everyone comes to the news, even journalists, and says that no one benefits from a strike. What nonsense is that? We have built our society on strikes.”
You can listen to the interview in its entirety by purchasing a subscription on the Brotkast.is website.
Gunnar Smari Egilsson
