Strike can break out on SVT – mediator bid left

The Journalist Association (SJF) has received a request from the mediators appointed by the Mediation Institute in the conflict.

« The request contains a proposal for a solution, which will now be tested by the Journalist Association and the media companies within Almega. The parties will notify the mediators later on Wednesday, » SJF writes in a press release.

SJF and the Union have Taken a total of about 750 members in a strike at SVT in Stockholm which starts at 05.00 on Friday unless the parties agree.

News programs as a report are exempt, but the conflict will have a major impact on what can be shown in SVT. Exactly which programs are affected by SVT do not want to go into.

« SVT has analyzed the effects of a possible strike and sees that it would have a significant impact on the broadcasts. However, we still hope for a solution in the negotiations. We do not want to say more in this situation, » says SVT’s press manager Camilla Hagert in a written comment.

According to Rebecka MårtenssonChairman of the Journalist Club at SVT, neither Sportnytt, Morning Studio, Go’kväll nor the Cultural News can be broadcast if there is a strike, she tells Express. Several of the programs are affected immediately when the strike breaks out.

The Journalist Association requires, among other things, shorter working hours and real wage increases. Mediation between the parties has been going on last Monday.

– We still hope that we will receive a bid from the mediators that we can accept. But we are also ready to execute the alert on SVT in Stockholm on Friday, says Petteri Flanagan Karttunen, communications manager at SJF.

As a public service company, SVT has a community-carrying function, but it has not prevented SJF and the Union from laying the notification right there.

– We have reasoned about the notification we have laid and really took into account that particular bit. Even if the notification comes into force and becomes a strike, you will still be able to send out VMA, important message to the public, and staff up at major news events.

The employer organization Almega believes that the unions have taken the strike threat too early and has called the alert « irresponsible ».

– There were booked negotiation days left when the notification was laid and we think that a notice is so serious that you take it when negotiated at the bottom. But now we hope that the mediators will come with a request that both parties can accept, says Erik Juhlin, press manager at Almega.

READ MORE: The Union and the Journalist Association warn of strike on SVT