Leading Swedish union, IF Metall, is stressing the collaborative nature of its approach to bargaining, which has recently netted the creation of 1,300 new jobs at Volvo’s Torsland plant near Gothenburg.
IF Metall – representing around 350,000 members in a number of Swedish industries including mechanical engineering and plastics – negotiated an extra shift with Volvo as the automaker looks to ramp up production to an all-time high of 470,000 vehicles this year – using a new working hours agreement.
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“We need to paint a joint picture,” IF Metall chairman, Anders Ferbe, told delegates at last week’s Scandinavian automotive suppliers association (FKG)’s meeting in Gothenburg. “If you do it wrongly, you will have a problem, a deficiency, when it comes to good industrial workers.
“When it comes to our major companies, the trade union movement has always been interested in having a dialogue with the CEO and board. We see similar opportunities.
“It [Sweden] is a small country of 9.5m people and are competing with a very difficult market. The alternative to a trade union…you are fighting corporate management but it does not work.
“Perhaps you do that in Southern Europe. Those of you [FKG delegates] who have operated in France and Italy, you know it is very difficult to conclude a trade union agreement.”
Sweden has a new Social Democratic government of just a few weeks old and whose Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven, is ironically, himself a former chairman of IF Metall, a situation delegates hoped would lead to a sympathetic ear for industry.
“This lot [new government] should see the possibilities in every situation,” said Ferbe. “It is a complicated situation in Parliament and we are going to ask a question about the Greens [participation].”
