Stridsåtgärd is a compound word in Swedish, made up of two words: strid and åtgärd. Let’s look at strid first.

Strid originally comes from the Old Swedish stridh, which in turn comes from Old Norse strið. As an adjective, it can refer to something streaming or flowing quickly, such as in the phrase en strid ström (a rapid flow). That’s not the meaning used here though.

As a noun, strid means some sort of fight, battle or argument. One word for a tank in Swedish is stridsvagn (literally “battle wagon”), and strid is used in various different compound words to describe different kinds of battles, like sjöstrid (a battle at sea), gränsstrid (a border fight), or eldstrid (a battle with live weapons).

The word strid also exists in Norwegian and Danish, where it has the same meaning.

The second part of today’s word of the day, åtgärd, refers to some sort of action or measure. You’ll often see Swedish companies or authorities vowing to vidta åtgärder (take measures) after some sort of crisis to make sure it isn’t repeated in the future.

Åtgärda also exists as a verb, where it refers to fixing some sort of issue or problem. Åtgärd comes from the Old Swedish ātgærþ, which is similar to the Icelandic term for a repair, measures or an operation, aðgerð. 

Both the Old Swedish and Icelandic terms have their roots in the Old Norse word for doing or making something, gera, which you might recognise from the Swedish term göra, with the same meaning (this word also exists in some English and Scottish dialects as the word gar, but we’re maybe going off on a bit too much of a tangent here).

So, back to stridsåtgärd. As mentioned above, it literally translates to “battle measures”, although it’s essentially only used nowadays in the sense of a work-related conflict, where a labour union or a worker adopts some sort of measure to try and get an employer to agree to some sort of requirement. 

This could be in the form of a strike (strejk), blockade (blockad), boycott (bojkott) or a mass resignation (massuppsägning). You might also see the term sympatiåtgärder, which refers to a union which is not directly affected by a particular conflict ordering its members to strike or take other similar measures in solidarity with the affected party.

In most situations, stridsåtgärd refers to a strike, although similar measures taken by employers, such as a lockout of employees, are also stridsåtgärder.

Unions or workers in Sweden are only allowed to strike or take similar measures if they do not have a collective bargaining agreement, as these agreements mean workers are under fredsplikt (literally “duty of peace”). Disagreements when negotiating a collective bargaining agreement (or the renewal of one) are usually, but not always, the reason why strikes are called in Sweden. 

Most strikes in Sweden are called off before they actually occur, as the unions and employer organisations are normally able to come to some sort of agreement in time.

This doesn’t stop so-called wildcat strikes or other similar measures taking place, illegal strikes that occur even if a company does have a collective bargaining agreement.

These are known as olovliga stridsåtgärder, where olovlig means “illegal”. A strike which isn’t announced with sufficient notice also falls into this category. In an illegal strike situation, the striking party (usually the trade union, if the strike was their initiative) can legally be forced to pay compensation to whoever they’re striking against.

Example sentences

Metallarbetarnas fackförbund, IF Metall, har varslat stridsåtgärder mot Tesla.

The metalworkers’ union, IF Metall, has threatened to strike against Tesla.

Man får inte vidta stridsåtgärder om man har kollektivavtal. 

You can’t take forced labour measures if you have a collective bargaining agreement.

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