Swedish Unions revive recruitment efforts

A changing political landscape

The high rate of organization in Sweden is usually explained partly by the fact that the unemployment insurance funds are managed by the unions. The unemployment insurance funds were originally created by the unions as protection against cuts in pay.

The idea behind the funds was that no one should have to be tempted to take a job at a pay rate below the contract rate. Thus, unemployed people could refrain from taking a job that paid less than what the unemployment funds gave. In addition, the unemployment funds became a form of pay insurance for those who did have a job. The funds made it more difficult to engage in wage dumping or force workers to compete with each other for jobs with poorer conditions.

But when the present conservative government in Sweden came to power in 2006, they decided shortly after taking office to undermine the unemployment funds. Compensation for the unemployed was reduced. At the same time, the government also made it substantially more expensive to be a member of an unemployment fund.

The unions regarded this as a way for the new government to scare members into leaving their unions.

"In our case, no one has left the union because the contributions to the unemployment fund have increased," says Stefan Halvarsson.

"We made a point of telling people that it was the government that raised [unemployment fund] contributions, not the union."

Another reason for the high degree of union membership in Sweden is the position of the collective contract. "Without a strong collective contract, we would be much weaker," Stefan warns.

According to Stefan, the contract provides strong protection to members, including protection against pay cuts. The contract also gives local union organizations a strong negotiating position against employers.

The threat to unions now is that employers - as a result of the economic crisis - are trying to hollow out the collective contract and weaken it.

"Such attempts have been made before, but we managed to fight back," says Stefan.