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Ikea US staff declare union vote victory

Staff at the Ikea-owned Swedwood factory in Danville voted on Wednesday with a large majority in favour of signing a collective bargaining agreement, ending a often bitter three year struggle.

Ikea US staff declare union vote victory

“A major victory,” the Swedish union declared.

“I am very happy, primarily for the workers at the Swedwood factory in Danville. This has been long struggle,” said Per-Olof Sjöö, chairperson of GS, which organises workers at Swedwood.

The union has for several years been claiming that they have a majority of the workers behind them, but in the US more than half after needed for employees to gain the right to unionise.

The vote late on Wednesday saw some 77 percent of the around 300 staff at the factory in Danville, Virginia to vote for unionisation.

“The management has to understand that the serious issues at Swedwood have to be solved and we want to help them with that,” said Bill Street at the Machinists Union to the Swedish local Smålandsposten daily.

Street has previously accused Ikea for management the plant as if it was a factory in a developing country, with low wages, poor working environment and irregular working hours.

Street was happy after the vote last night.

“I am more than satisfied,” he said.

The issue has attracted a great deal of attention in the US media and Jon Stewart’s Daily Show had its own take on the controversy in late June.

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WEATHER

Danish Ikea store shelters staff and customers overnight during snowstorm

Heavy snowfall left 31 people looking for a spare cushion at the Aalborg branch of Ikea on Wednesday as they were forced to spend the night at the store.

A file photo at Ikea in Aalborg, where 31 people stayed overnight during a snowstorm on December 1st 2021.
A file photo at Ikea in Aalborg, where 31 people stayed overnight during a snowstorm on December 1st 2021. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

Anyone who has found themselves wandering the mazy aisles of an Ikea might be able to empathise with the sense of being lost in the furniture store for a seemingly indefinite time.

Such a feeling was probably more real than usual for six customers and 25 staff members who were forced to spend the night at the furniture giant’s Aalborg branch after being snowed in.

Heavy snow in North Jutland brought traffic to a standstill and halted public transport in parts of the region on Wednesday afternoon, resulting in a snow-in at Ikea.

“This is certainly a new situation for us,” Ikea Aalborg store manager Peter Elmose told local media Nordjyske, which first reported the story.

“It’s certainly not how I thought my day would end when I drove to work this morning,” Elmose added.

The 31 people gathered in the store’s restaurant area and planned to see Christmas television and football to pass the evening, the store’s manager reported to Nordjyske.

“Our kitchen staff have made sure there is hot chocolate, risalamande, pastries, soft drinks, coffee and the odd beer for us in light of the occasion. So we’ll be able to keep warm,” he said.

“We couldn’t just send them outside and lock the door behind them at our 8pm closing time. Absolutely not. So of course they’ll be staying here,” he added.

The temporary guests were given lodging in different departments of the store in view of the Covid-19 situation, Nordjyske writes.

“For us , the most important thing was to take care of each other and that everyone feels safe,” Elmose said.

At least Ikea’s stranded customers and staff had somewhere comfortable to lay their heads.

The same can unlikely be said for around 300 passengers at the city’s airport who had to stay overnight at the terminal.

The airport was forced to stop flights from 2:30pm yesterday amid worsening weather, which also prevented buses from transferring passengers to hotels.

“We have around 300 people in the terminal right now and have been giving out blankets on the assumption they will be staying here tonight,” Aalborg Airport operations manager Kim Bermann told Nordjyske.

READ ALSO: Ikea reopens in Denmark after country’s worst retail month this century

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