Sweden - Unions work with SKF to minimize impact of crisis - September 21, 2010

At the regular annual meeting of the SKF World Union Committee, on September 14 to 16 in Gothenburg, union members reported on a range of measures that had been negotiated with the company at national and plant level to reduce the impact of the economic crisis on employment. Measures such as shorter working time and leave banking had enabled SKF to weather the downturn in 2009 and maintain employment levels, ensuring that qualified and experienced workers remain in place now that orders are starting once again to increase. Discussing the future challenges for unions in SKF, Committee members identified outsourcing and precarious work as important, with the need for more information sharing and better communication between the members of the committee.

English: http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=24082             

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI atwww.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2009.