At the end of December 2011, 170 IF Metall union reps from sites across the country agreed to a new 14 month contract with employers’ associations, starting February 1, 2012, and running up to March 31, 2013. Salaries will be increased by 3%. Similar agreements have been approved by other unions, including Pappers, Unionen, the wood- and graphics workers' union GS, and Livs, the Swedish Food Workers' Union. In total, 540.000 industrial workers are covered by the new agreements, which are normative for the rest of the economy. In IF Metall, the agreements concern 171 000 members in technology, steel, mining and chemistry. The union and the employers will continue to negotiate about a system to retain jobs and invest in education during recessions, aiming at a final proposal by the end of February 2012. Unionen, representing 120,000 workers in many sectors, negotiated 0.2% on top of the 3% for professional development. The union represents white-collar, technical, engineering, administration, and other staff. Pappers took a major step closer to a June deadline in finalizing industry-wide language banning all social dumping concerning agency and precarious work. The other unions also made strides in limiting and regulating temporary and short-term work.
English: http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=28514&l=2;
http://www.icem.org/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4833-Sweden-s-Industrial ...
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 or the communications officer of the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2012.