Stand with Dockworkers Union vice-president fired for organizing a blockade against arms deliveries to and from Israel!
Louise Strömbäck and Jonas Brännberg,
The Dockworkers’ Union’s vice president Erik Helgeson has been fired from his job at Gothenburg Roro Terminals (GRT), after he was involved in organizing a blockade in February against arms deliveries to and from Israel. The blockade led to the employer GRT reporting Erik Helgeson to the police, for violation of the new “Security Protection Act”. The complaint was dropped immediately, but the employer still proceeded with the dismissal of Erik Helgeson, through additional accusations of disloyalty and claims that he had violated the company’s code of conduct.
Socialistiskt Alternativ (ISA in Sweden) and International Socialist Alternative (ISA) are participating in the solidarity campaign and spreading a grassroots campaign in support of Erik Helgeson. Download the petition here and ask your colleagues to sign (then scan and send to [email protected]). You can also raise the issue of a statement of support in your union (below is an article with more information).
The demands are as follows:
- Withdraw the dismissal of Erik Helgeson.
- The Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), and other trade union confederations TCO and SACO must immediately distance themselves from GRT’s attacks on union representatives in the Port of Gothenburg and demand that the dismissal of Erik Helgeson be withdrawn.
- LO, TCO and SACO must announce a day of protest with nationwide actions to defend the rights of union representatives in general and in support of Erik Helgeson in particular.
The formal deliberations with Gothenburg RoRo Terminals (GRT) regarding the dismissal of Erik Helgeson have shown the company’s total indifference to labor law. After their first accusation of “violation of the Security Protection Act” and reference to “national security” collapsed like a house of cards, new accusations appeared, just as false as the first.
According to GRT, Helgeson has personally made the company’s customer relations and Sweden’s total defense more difficult. It is obvious, however, that all the statements that Helgeson has made regarding the Dockworkers’ Union’s blockade of war materials for Israel’s genocidal war in Palestine are made precisely as a representative of the union. The company GRT and its main owner, the shipping giant DFDS, have not been mentioned at all by Helgeson in connection with the blockade.
The other two accusations of “disloyalty” and “violation of the company’s code of conduct” are also completely unfounded. The instance of disloyalty is said to be that Helgeson contacted current and potential customers of GRT/DFDS in connection with the blockade, which they believe could damage the company’s finances. The accusation is in itself astonishing.
It is clear that a trade union and thus its representatives can act in a way that can “damage a company’s finances”. The fact is that trade unions were formed precisely to defend the conditions of the workers against the owners in the struggle over how the surplus value should be distributed. Should the added value go to the owners or more to the workers who actually create the value through their work?
According to the Dockworkers’ Union, the accusation is also factually incorrect. It is the Dockworkers’ Union’s chairman Martin Berg who has contacted large arms export companies about the Dockworkers’ Union’s blockade, not Erik Helgeson.
The so-called violations of the company’s code of conduct are old accusations from 2020 and 2023, both of which have been directly linked to Helgeson’s role as a union representative. In one case, at the beginning of the pandemic, a heated discussion arose after the company did not inform employees who were unloading a ship that covid-19 was on board and that sailors from the ship had been transported by ambulance to hospital. This was a discussion that then ended in consensus. In the other case, Helgeson is said to have “panted, groaned and rolled his eyes” during a hearing. In both cases, Helgeson received a “reprimand” — which apparently was only for the purpose of collecting “dirt” to be used at a later date against him.
It is obvious that GRT intends to ignore all laws and regulations in order to be able to fire Erik. They are backed by the main owner DFDS and the employers’ organization Ports of Sweden (both of which had representatives at the negotiations), and they know that even if they are found to be breaking the law in the Labour Court, they can pay fines and “get rid of” Helgeson anyway.
The action against Helgeson is nothing more than classic “union busting” to weaken the Dockworkers’ Union and scare all workers away from union activism and from standing up for their rights. Many trade union activists around the country and the world have understood this and many statements of support have poured in.
The question now is how this support can be converted into more pressure on GRT/DFDS, the municipality of Gothenburg (which through a license leases the port to GRT) and Ports of Sweden.
Unfortunately, the pressure must also be directed at the leaderships of the large unions in the LO, TCO and SACO, which so far scandalously have not given Helgeson and the Dockworkers’ Union their support.
In addition to withdrawing the dismissal of Erik Helgeson, they should demand that GRT/DFDS be thrown out of the Port of Gothenburg and that the weakening in labor law be torn up. If GRT/DFDS does not back down, there is no other option than to respond with strikes and solidarity actions.
If GRT/DFDS gets away with this, it opens the door to a new and dangerous precedent — if the employer has sufficient financial muscle, labour law can be completely overridden no matter how false their accusations are.
On the other hand, a joint vigorous struggle to defend Erik Helgeson and the Dockworkers’ Union could inject new life and self-confidence into trade union activists and workers throughout the country and internationally.
International Socialist Alternative spoke to the initiator of the grassroots petition, Petri Myllykoski, about the campaign
What made you take the initiative for this campaign?
The reason for the initiative was that there was no similar campaign: there was a need for a campaign to build pressure around this issue. I first started by bringing it up in my section within the union Kommunal (Municipal Workers’ Union in Sweden), but I was referred to bring it up with the chairman of the department. She thought it was an important thing and said that a statement should be written, but so far nothing has been done.
There needs to be pressure from below in the workplaces to make clear that LO, TCO and SACO must come to grips with the issue and pursue it. They should, for example, organize a day of action around the country with demonstrations to highlight the importance of union struggle, and make clear that you should not have to be persecuted and risk dismissal as a union activist. That is a very important issue.
What kind of response have you received so far from other trade union activists and among colleagues?
I’ve received a good response. There have been many who did not know about Erik Helgeson and his situation at all, because there has not been much about it in the newspapers. But when people find out what happened, they think it’s an important issue, and people are happy to sign the petition. I also try to spread the campaign among other union activists that I know; I have sent around the petition and hope that more people will spread it further.
The idea is to build a grassroots campaign from below to create pressure on the issue. Then it’s about how wide it reaches and how much you manage to spread the campaign. It is important to talk about the importance of union representatives not being fired because of their union work.
What is the plan for the campaign in the longer term?
The plan is hopefully that the LO will distance itself from the dismissal of Erik Helgeson and speak out against it, with demands that he be reinstated. It is not okay to fire union representatives.
When the LO made the agreement that weakened labour law, it was said that it would not be used to dismiss union representatives, but that is exactly what is happening. The Dockworkers’ Union is not a member of the LO, but no union representatives should be able to be fired for their union work. Union representatives stand up for the members and their wishes, as was the case with Erik Helgeson.
