21 September, 2010Meeting in Gothenburg, union members of the SKF World Union Committee reported that measures negotiated with management enabled redundancies to be avoided through the economic crisis.
SWEDEN: At the regular annual meeting of the SKF World Union Committee on September 14 to 16 in Gothenburg, union members reported on a range of measures that had been negotiated with the company at national and plant level to reduce the impact of the economic crisis on employment. Measures such as shorter working time and leave banking had enabled the company to weather the downturn in 2009 and maintain employment levels, ensuring that qualified and experienced workers remain in place now that orders are starting once again to increase. Although redundancies did take place in many countries, these were fewer than would have been the case without the special negotiated measures being taken.
Committee members had the opportunity to put questions to the management prior to the meeting, which were addressed by SKF CEO Tom Johnstone. In his presentation to delegates, Johnstone stressed the importance of the strong cooperation between management and the unions which managed to minimize the impacts of the crisis on workers. He further stated that without this cooperation there would have been more job losses. However, he also put an emphasis on the need for flexibility with new hires predominantly being temporary agency workers.
Discussing the future challenges for unions in SKF, Committee members identified outsourcing and precarious work as important, with the need for more information sharing and better communication between the members of the committee. The World Union Committee committed to strengthening the network between meetings.