By Niclas Rolander

STOCKHOLM (MarketWatch) -- Up to 2,000 employees at Swedish construction company Skanska (SKA-B.SK) could be affected by an industry union strike that may begin next week, a spokeswoman for the company said Friday.

The Swedish construction workers' union, Byggnads, last week gave notice of a strike, which will be implemented in two stages unless the union can reach a deal on a new collective agreement with the employers' organisation Sveriges Byggindustrier.

In total, about 3,000 union members could go on strike. Skanska spokeswoman Mia Trahn said. Some 700 Skanska employees would be directly affected by the strike, and the company estimates that another 200 won't be able to work if the strike comes into effect.

In addition, about 1,000 Skanska employees would be indirectly affected if the strike is expanded to include operators of cranes and concrete pump trucks, Trahn said.

"It is too early to estimate the financial consequences, but of course it would be costly. We are talking about millions," Trahn told Dow Jones Newswires.

The strike announced by Byggnads will be implemented in two stages. The first stage will start on March 7, and the second will begin on March 14, if no agreement is reached by then.

Mediators are now working on a proposal, which is expected to be presented to the parties this weekend.

Should the strike start next week, Skanska peers NCC AB (NCC-A.SK) and Peab AB (PEAB-B.SK), along with almost 40 other construction companies, will also be affected. NCC spokesperson Hedvig Elander said the company doesn't know how many employees might go on strike, but confirmed that hundreds would likely be affected. Peab wasn't immediately available for comment.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/unions-threaten-strike-against-swedens-skanska-2012-03-02

Also here in Norway they are striking. Also a company called Veidekke, Norways bigges building company has 1200 men striking.

They get payed Serious money these guys. But last strike was about all the foreign workers that get payed much less.. The Norwegian workers don't want that because then it becomes more interesting to get workers from abroad and they might loose their job and so on.. I believe they wanted the minumim wages to go up.. Its only the foreign workers that get payed the minimum..

Not sure if that is the reason for this strike but I do now these building companys are overloaded with polish workers. One building site here in Bergen has about 15 Norwegians and 150 polish workers... The Norwegians all have a leader function while the 150 polish do all the hard work..

It has been european fenomenon untill now.Also here we were straking for 3 days last month.Respect to those who have given their lives for the rights we have today.

Funny that all in the world around knows that news before us who lives in Stockholm. They haven´t said anything about it in the Swedish news-TV. The strike will not affect me so much - i don´t do so many pumpjob to Skanska.

I have talked about the strike with some employees in both NCC, Skanska and Peab - not even them have heard anything about a strike. And not even them have noticed anything about it at the news radio/TV or newspaper.

For sure the Swedish news-TV will tell about a big strike - but they haven´t yet said anything about it. 

Funny.. They do know in Norway.. http://imarkedet.no/Article.aspx?id=90130

http://di.se/Default.aspx?pid=1372623__TelegramPageProvider&epslanguage=sv&referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.no%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dstrejka%2Bskanska%26source%3Dnewssearch%26cd%3D2%26ved%3D0CC0QqQIwAQ%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fdi.se%252FTelegram%252F2012%252F3%252F2%252F1372623%252FSkanska-Upp-till-2000-Skanskaanstallda-kan-paverkas-av-strejk%252F%26ctbm%3Dnws%26ei%3DlBRXT9CJOcbQ4QTS_InUDw%26usg%3DAFQjCNGypPl1c5RE0MXAQ2Xz0pazWzRiwg

And here is a swedish page that talks about it.. But it isindeed strange that the employees are thelast ones to hear about it...