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This is the story of an underdog in the city. Eskilstuna has always been in the shadow of Stockholm. The working-class city managed for a long time without the capital. The factories manufacture high-quality workshop products for all over the world.
Outside the town hall window, the statue “The honor and joy of work” stands as a sign of what historically characterizes the region.
In modern times, Eskilstuna has been hit even harder when economic crises have swept across the world. The oil crisis in the 1970s was a slap in the face, Jimmy Jansson says, in a result that testifies to the energy that kept him as chairman of the city council for ten years.
There was a spawn of small businesses and subcontractors that were eliminated more than 40 years ago. Later, the exporting nations of Asia became overwhelming competitors.
The worst was in the late 1990s when he went to high school himself. Eskilstuna had lost 10,000 inhabitants and at the same time had lost self-confidence.
– People withdrew from here because they saw no future. There were no jobs. Then they became very empty houses, says Jimmy Jansson.
Then came the global financial crisis in 2008. Eskilstuna was hit by further setbacks as industries were forced to streamline and lay off staff.
It took ten years Before there were so many jobs in the city again.
– When people came from other parts of the world to Sweden and sought refuge over their heads, where did they end up then? Well, in cities where there are empty apartments for the lowest possible rent, and they were here and in Malmö and Södertälje. On the other hand, we did not have a good job market, says the president of the Eskilstuna city council.
In the next breath, Jimmy Jansson says that Swedish refugee policy cannot continue to force more people into Eskilstuna, “who will not even enter the labor market with excessively large funds.”
Unemployment is 15 percent and is among the highest in the country. The proportion of foreign-born who are unemployed is 32 percent. Typically three districts end up on the list of vulnerable areas in Sweden. The day after the town hall interview, a man is shot dead in Eskilstuna.
In 2020, the center will be lined of stores that attacked again.
The Dea Axelsson clothing store thanks “all the good customers for all these years. Now, sadly, we have closed for good, “it says on A4 paper pasted in the windows of the old shop. A growing void is spreading in many Swedish city centers, but few cities, like Eskilstuna, have felt hard navigated during so long.
Jimmy Jansson says he had an idea when he took over the political government of the city.
– That Eskilstuna will regain his self-confidence. And start to take place in relation to its size. A return to antiquity. Do you know how many inhabitants we have today?
106,000, answer your own question.
From the establishment of Amazon went public, Eskilstuna has weathered the success of the new economy. It sounds in the council of companies interested in becoming Amazon neighbors.
The geographical location close to Stockholm and the availability of land and labor have given the city new advantages as Internet commerce and the demand for logistics solutions grows.
One of those waiting for a job at the new Amazon warehouse is Emelie Larsson. She is 22 years old and unemployed since 2017. She has attended high school transportation and vehicle programs and has a truck driver’s license.
– It would feel great, he says, about a job.
You prepare, among other things, by practicing answering the typical questions asked during a job interview.
– Why am I applying for the job, what do I think I will do in five years and why should they hire me? she summarizes her lessons.
To the last question, Emelie Larsson will answer that she is motivated and personable.
At the same time, criticism has come. Not least from a union perspective. The British union GMB Union has linked hundreds of ambulance calls to mental illness and suicides at Amazon warehouses in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Valle Karlsson, president of the Seko union union, is one of those who warns that Swedish politicians are naive in their view of Amazon.
– There will be many worrying signs about Amazon’s personnel policy and its refusal to sign collective agreements in other countries. It would be good if politicians looked at what kind of company they welcome. Of course, Amazon is welcome in Sweden, but the Swedish labor market model applies in Sweden. Believe nothing else, says Valle Karlsson.
Is this the kind of work Eskilstuna needs?
Jimmy Jansson straightens his back and says he feels safe. Give two reasons.
In Sweden, citizens expect to receive fair treatment from their employers.
And that Amazon’s operations will be managed by global transportation and logistics company Kuehne Nagel, which has been operating in Sweden for decades. The company has a collective agreement.
– The pattern is that Amazon adapts its policy according to the country in which it operates. I think they have calculated that it is correct to adapt to the Swedish conditions. Otherwise we have strong unions that then have the opportunity to show what they are for, the City Council notes.
There may be 300 jobs in Amazon’s 15,000-square-meter warehouse.
– As long as jobs are white and people are not treated badly, all jobs are welcome in Eskilstuna. There’s really only one main goal for us: we must break unemployment, says Jimmy Jansson.
– We are a working class city, continue. You have to go to work, contribute your knowledge, do your duty, pay your taxes. You must not commit crimes. It is the soul of Eskilstuna and there we will return.
The president of the city council sees a turning point.
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And this fall, the Swedish Public Employment Service will start training in Eskilstuna that suits Emelie Larsson and everyone else looking for a job in a warehouse.
– It is extremely positive with all the jobs that come in a municipality that has it as difficult as Eskilstuna, says Kristina Bengtsson, unit manager of the Swedish Public Employment Service in Sörmland.
Her colleague Katarina Enqvist-Bolin dismisses concerns that Amazon, as an employer, is putting too much pressure on its employees in Sweden.
– That’s how it sounded also when Skavsta airport was going to be launched (1991), and it went well. Amazon will also be forced to adapt to Sweden, he says.
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So far it says no Amazon anywhere in the 300-meter-long gray warehouse where the global e-commerce company will be based.
The logistics company DHL occupies the other half of the hangar in the Kjula logistics park, a mile and a half from Eskilstuna.
– From here, you can reach 3.8 million people in 60 minutes, says David Hofmann, CEO of the municipal company that sells land and settlement solutions on the site, about the happy geographical circumstance that has given the city an advantage decisive at a time when they are promoting new warehousing and logistics solutions. developing.
Heavy bulldozer traffic in the area is gossiping about a belief in the future that has taken root in the sandy soil of Sörmland, where a former military airfield used to be.
– Here we have a total of 4.2 million square meters of land and everything is already offered for potential new commercial establishments. We thought it would only happen in 30 years, explains David Hofmann.
On the next plot The Amazon warehouse is already operating on the ground. The buyer is the same person who bought the land and then leased it, from where Amazon will soon start the business that can reshape commerce in Sweden.
The plans are secret, but at first glance the possibility of Amazon expansion is glimpsed.