Swedish Unions revive recruitment efforts

Meeting recruitment challenges

Traditionally the rate of organization has been higher among blue-collar workers than among white-collar workers and engineers. That remains the case in the manufacturing industries. But over the last 15 years the level of union membership, both for blue- and white-collar workers, has fallen from 85 to 71 per cent. The big drop in membership came right after the conservative government came to power in the autumn of 2006.

The level of organization remains significantly higher in the manufacturing industries than for the rest of the economy. That goes for both blue- and white-collar workers. In Sweden, 82 per cent of blue-collar workers in manufacturing and 72 per cent of white-collar workers belong to a union.

IF Metall has one of the highest rates of organization of all the union confederations, close to 92 per cent. But that rate is falling.

"We sat back and relaxed, and thought everything was going well, despite the fact that the decline began ten or fifteen years ago," says Inga-Lill Samuelsson, a representative at IF Metall's branch in Gothenburg. Inga-Lill is also the project leader for the union's drive to organize and recruit more members.

The organising project will run for two years and began in 2008. 22,726 new members were recruited last year. But at the same time, many people have left the union. Hence overall membership in IF Metall has declined.

According to the union, one in two members who left IF Metall left due to finding a new job and for that reason moved to another union. Every fourth person left the union after ceasing to pay membership dues.