Equality, Strike, Sweden

The Vision trade union has published a survey that found that four out of 10 young women state that they have been discriminated against at some point in their working life. The union says that employers need to continuously and more actively work for equal rights and opportunities for employees. In Sweden, employers are obliged to prevent discrimination according to the Discrimination Act, and this work must be done in cooperation with the trade union. The Vision survey found that more than one in four women (29%), regardless of age, say that they have been discriminated against at their

The IF Metall engineering union has been taking strike action to put pressure on Tesla, the electric car manufacturer, to sign a collective agreement. Although the direct dispute involves a small number of members, the union is determined to prevent Tesla from undermining the strong system of collective bargaining not only in the metal sector but across the whole economy. Many unions in other sectors have taken solidarity action and public service trade unions like Kommunal are showing their support and urging their members to get involved in the campaign. Meanwhile, unions in neighbouring

Negotiations over pay and other conditions between the Kommunal trade union and the Visita company that provides catering services for several hospitals have broken down. The union has announced that action by workers at many facilities will go ahead from 14:00 on 15 September unless the company returns to the negotiating table with a commitment to negotiate and particularly to address Kommunal’s proposals to support the lower paid. The union will also block any new hiring as well as implement an overtime ban. Kommunal argues that higher inflation means that it is crucial to deliver pay rises

A new survey by the Vision trade union shows that just over one in 10 social workers say they have suffered sexual harassment in the past year. The union is concerned that the relevant legislation is not being applied and wants to see local collective agreements with more effective measures to tackle the problem. The survey also found that one in seven women between the ages of 20 and 29 say they have been harassed in the past year by someone who is not a colleague. Vision says that local collective agreements can be negotiated to address all forms of harassment, including that by third

The Kommunal and Vision public service unions are involved in mediation over a dispute with the Swedish church. The unions are concerned that the church has failed to negotiate a transition agreement in line with many other employers, following recent legislative changes. Instead the church appears to want to reduce employment conditions as a way to compensate for delivering the new transition agreement. Kommunal has announced that it will initiate a dispute on 22 April if there is no agreement, starting with industrial action and building to potential strike action on 27 April.

Municipal workers' union Kommunal is highlighting a new report that contrasts workers' views of pay and conditions in the female-dominated care sector with those of workers in the male-dominated construction sector. In a wide range of assessments the views of care workers are much more negative than their counterparts in construction. While more than half of care workers have thought about changing jobs this applies to only 38% in construction while only 33% think that staffing levels are adequate in the care sector compared to 60% in construction. Half of care workers wouldn't recommend their

Municipal workers' union Kommunal has negotiated a new two-year agreement with private care providers which includes general pay increases, additions for low-paid workers and several provisions on working time. The agreement follows the main municipal deal that provided for increases of 2% in 2018 and 2.3% in 2019 but in companies where average pay is below SEK 24000 (EUR 2330) a month in 2018 and below SEK 24480 (EUR 2380) in 2019, increases will be implemented as flat-rate amounts of SEK 490 (EUR 47) in 2018 and SEK 563 (EUR 55) in 2019. Assistant nurses will also get an extra 0.5%. Other

Municipal workers' union Kommunal has recorded the success it has had in improving the pay and status of assistant nurses. In 2016 and 2017 the union ensured that assistant nurses received a pay increase of SEK 1020 (EUR 97) worth around 4.3% while the overall increase in local government was SEK 520 (EUR 49) worth around 2.2%. Further progress followed in 2017 with SEK 180 (EUR 17) for assistant nurses on top of the general increase of SEK 530 (EUR 50), worth 2.2%.Kommunal notes that the gap between pay for nurses and engineers has closed but that more needs to be done to increase pay in

The Vision local government union is calling for action on structural pay inequalities and wants to see women have the right to full-time and permanent employment contracts as part of a campaign to reduce the gender pay gap. The union supports the 16.02 campaign which says that with a 12% pay gap women effectively work for free every day from 16.02 to 17.00. The pay gap has narrowed slightly in recent years but on current progress it will take until 2050 to achieve equal pay.

(June 2017) The Kommunal municipal services union has signed five agreements with municipal companies represented by the KFS employers' organisation. The agreements cover care, consultancies, real estate and business and museums and archaeological activities. They follow the main trend of a 6.5% pay increase spread over three years with the care agreement including additional increases for nurses, as did the main municipal agreement.

(April 2017) Municipal workers' union Kommunal has negotiated a year's extension to the three-year agreement which it negotiated last year with the SKL local government employers' organisation. The agreement provided for additional increases for nursing assistants and nurses as part of a strategy to close the gender pay gap. The basic increases in each of the four years 2016-2019 are SEK 520 (EUR 54), 530 (EUR 55), 535 (EUR 55.5) and 540 (EUR 56) while in the first and second years nursing assistants get 1020 (EUR 105) and 710 (EUR 75) while the third year includes 685 (EUR 70) for nurses. The

(December 2016) Planned strike action by workers in the private healthcare sector, members of the Kommunal union, helped produce an improved offer from the employers' organisation with a new collective agreement keeping pay and conditions in line with the public sector. Following mediation Kommunal was successful in securing an 18-month agreement with a pay increase in line with general trends (SEK 700, EUR 72) and a higher payment (SEK 1200, EUR 123) to nursing assistants to address the undervaluation of the salary of this group of workers. The union and employers also agreed that full-time

(November 2016) The annual report on wages from the LO trade union confederation shows that workers have benefitted from real wage increases over the past 20 years. However, the report also reveals that the gender pay gap remains persistently high at 15% while the gap between pay for blue and white collar workers has increased and is now at 47%, a level not seen since the 1930s.