Strike!

No, I'm not talking about baseball (Lisa and Alex) or bowling (Sarah? I don't know..who bowls?), but a worker strike.

Don't get too alarmed, this is an annual thing for Norwegians. Every year the public sector (people who work in schools, hospitals, etc.) organize a strike to get better pay/benefits from the government. They don't return to their jobs until a compromise has been made. Friday was the first round of strikes; certain schools and other public organizations in the major cities in Norway closed. This included the oldest boy's school. Since they have not reached an agreement yet, tomorrow starts the second round of strikes. Even more schools and other public organizations are closed. This includes the little girl's preschool and the other boy's kindergarden. They will be closed until an agreement has been made.

Now, they aren't out on the street holding signs on account of this strike, however, some have chosen to "sit in" in schools and other places. I also saw women at the gym wearing shirts that read "strike"-- or "streike" in Norwegian.

These strikes raise a problem; when the kids can't go to school who stays home with them? I can imagine there have been many parents taking time off to stay home with their kids...which is inevitably slowing the system down to an even slower dripping molasses.