We want flexible and modern agreements

Published: 22/9/2011

Changed: 22/9/2011

By: Karin Fjell

Åke Svensson

The future economic situation looks extremely shaky.  The debt crisis in parts of the Euro zone combined with great imbalances in the American economy has increased the uncertainty while fluctuations have augmented. Globalisation and the change in the economic balance of power from the US and Europe to China and India enhance the uncertainty of the conditions for Swedish industry.

“All signs indicate that we will enter a period of boom in the fourth quarter. The question is how deep and how long it will last,” comments Teknikföretagen’s Director-General Åke Svensson.

“ In a worst case scenario there might be a strong resemblance to the crisis of 2008 and we have to reach agreements that will hold also in such a situation. Not being prepared and thus positioning ourselves in an unstructured situation is not being responsible.”

“We safe-guard industry’s international competitiveness, which will provide jobs across the country. We want a responsible wage formation with levels that the companies can support,” Åke Svensson says.

Teknikföretagen’s member companies make up for half of Sweden’s exports and our proposal will strengthen their competitiveness .

Our demands directed at all parties:
The conditions of employment and the wage agreements in the central bargaining agreements should be general and allow for local adaptations. There must be room for the parties at local level to agree on wages in a way that is adopted to the situation at hand.

A straight-forward and flexible handling of wage costs in the central wage agreements: no wage review, no target figures and no individual guarantees.

Appoint a working group to simplify regulations. There are central agreements with a plethora of rules that have lost their significance, or that are of little relevance or too complicated and thus obstruct work at local level. A working group should expediently propose simplifications that the parties can agree on in the very near future.

Companies’ participation in the collection of trade union dues should cease.

Demands directed at IF Metall:
Regulations for a more efficient disposition of working hours

Improved possibilities to make individual deals on overtime

Prolonged fixed-term employment without local agreement, from 12 to 24 months

Demands directed at the white-collar trade unions:
An alternative wage agreement with Unionen, modeled on the same principles as that with Sveriges Ingenjörer

Simpler and more explicit rules on fixed-term employment

A simple and clear-cut negotiation process for disputes according to the same principles as are already in use with IF Metall (this does not apply to Ledarna where the co-operation agreement will remain unchanged)

By November 30th at the latest new agreements should have been negotiated with IF Metall, Unionen, Sveriges Ingenjörer and Ledarna. The agreement applies to some 300,000 employees in 3,500 companies.