Male staff on some of Stockholm's commuter trains who wore skirts
to work in protest have emerged victorious after their employer
lifted a ban on wearing shorts, transport company Arriva said on
Monday.
Around 15 male train drivers and other workers last week wore
skirts on the suburban Roslagsbanan train service to circumvent the
shorts ban, saying temperatures inside the carriages could reach 35
degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) on a sunny day.
"We received so many suggestions from our staff, and we listened to
them and decided to change our minds on this issue," Arriva
spokesman Tomas Hedenius said.
"We're talking to the union and looking at how to do this. Our aim
is that they should receive the (uniform) shorts this summer," he
added.
The new rules will apply to all Arriva employees in Sweden.
The move came just one day after the transport group said its dress
code wouldn't be reviewed until this autumn, and the company
admitted widespread media coverage had spurred its decision.
"Our policy is that you have to look well dressed and proper when
representing Arriva, and that means trousers if you're a man and a
skirt if you're a woman, but no shorts," Hedenius told AFP on
Sunday.
Around 47,000 passengers travel on the Roslagsbanan service every
day according to Stockholm Public Transport
