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23 April, 2010In spite of the crisis, Swedish unions manage to secure wage gains for their members
SWEDEN: IMF Swedish affiliates Unionen and Sveriges Ingenjörer representing non-manual workers recently reached a central agreement with employers in the engineering sector. The agreement, to be supplemented by local negotiations, is valid for 18 months and applies between April 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011. It provides for a minimum of a 2.6 per cent wage increase - should local negotiations not result in higher wage gains - and is to be implemented in three steps: a 0.7 per cent wage increase on June 1, 2010, a 0.5 per cent increase over the next 12 months, and another 1.4 per cent increase on June 1, 2011. The agreement further includes an additional 0.2 per cent increase taking into account skill development. The guaranteed wage increase amounts to a minimum SEK 294 (€30).
The central agreement concluded in the mining, steel and metal sectors, also to be supplemented by local negotiations, provides for a minimum 3.2 per cent wage increase over a 22-month period, starting on April 1, 2010 with a guaranteed wage rise of SEK 359 (€36). As in the engineering sector, an additional 0.2 per cent per year is set aside for individual professional development. Moreover "parental wages" are expanded by another month to total five months. "Parental wages" are paid by employers and supplement parental allowances, so that these two compensations together represent about 90 per cent of the wage.
The negotiating parties also agreed on:
- Establishing a joint working group to analyse various ways and means of financing skill development, including possible changes in legislation;
- Establishing a task group within the industry committee to advance equality issues;
- Better information and training on rehabilitation and occupational health and safety;
- Improving travelling time compensation.