'We are not machines!' – 40 years since the miners' strike
NEWS
On Wednesday 9 December, Umeå University Library opens an exhibition about the sit-down miners’ strike that became the most discussed labour conflict ever in Sweden and greatly influenced the working conditions for Swedish workers in several areas of labour law.
On the morning of 9 December 2009, a strike broke out at the Leveäniemi mine in Svappavaara, Sweden. It continued in Kiruna and within three days had 5,000 workers joined the strike which would continue for 57 days. The reason for the employee work stoppage was dissatisfaction with a bad collective agreement, but the miners’ strike in the pits of Malmberget came to be about something more, and can be summarised in the protest chant: “We are not machines!”
“The miners strike has made its mark in literature and film as well as non-fiction works and scientific studies. That is reason enough for Umeå University Library to commemorate that it is now 40 years since the strike began,” says head librarian Kjell Jonsson.
The exhibition at the University Library will look back at those 57 days in Swedish modern age history that made a tremendous impact on employee participation labour law, safety and employment protection.
The Library's own collections help illustrate how the miners' strike was documented in the media during the winter of 1969-70. Previews from Umeå University Library's collections of nonfiction and fiction on the subject mines and miners' conditions are also displayed in the exhibition which opens December 9 and will run over Christmas and New Year’s in Study Hall exhibition area.
