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Drug seizures down as customs staff slack off

Customs officers in Skåne, south Sweden, are deliberately slowing down their work in protest against a shrinking workforce, leading to a drop in drug seizures as fewer cars are stopped.

Published: 23 February 2013 11:39 CET

Drug seizures down as customs staff slack off

Drug seizures in Skåne have dropped by 16 percent this year compared to 2012.

The reason is dissatisfaction among customs staff, according to Jan Martinsson, chairman of the Tull-Kust trade union which represents workers in Swedish Customs (Tullverket) and the Swedish Coast Guard (Kustbevakningen).

“We’re not being super successful in our work every day, if you see what I mean,” Martinsson told the TT news agency.

“Customs officers have to be hungry to go after the loot. If you’re not hungry, if you are dissatisfied – well, then these are the consequences”.

Martinsson stressed that the union is not behind the customs officers’ protest, but is aware of their tactics.

“I know that there is widespread dissatisfaction among my members,” he said.

Martinsson explained that a thinning workforce means customs officers cannot keep up the same high standards as usual.

But Michael Nelander, head of crime prevention at Swedish Customs in the Skåne and Blekinge regions, claimed that he has not noticed a decrease in work efficiency.

“I don’t want to believe that it’s true – that our staff members, who are very professional, responsible and passionate about their work, would take that kind of measure. I have a very hard time believing that,” said Nelander.

He called slowdown tactics “unacceptable”.

However, one customs officer confirmed that around 150 staff members in Skåne are participating in the protest, which involves cutting down on random inspections.

“In general, we are dissatisfied with the situation”, the customs officer, who wished to be anonymous, told TT.

“There are too few of us. It has been a turbulent time with changing work hours and so on… We feel you have to put your foot down.”

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German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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