The members
The partnership between the industrial unions incorporates the unions that have signed the Cooperation Agreement on Industrial Development and Wage Formation. The six unions are: The Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers, Unionen, The Swedish Foodworkers’ Union, IF Metall, The Swedish Paper Workers’ Union, and The Swedish Forest & Woodworkers´ Union.

Partnership between independent unions
Cooperation is voluntary and respects the sovereignty of each individual union. When the unions act together, they do so under the name “The Swedish Unions within Industry”. Much of the collaboration between the unions takes place on an informal basis.

Once the Cooperation Agreement on Industrial Development and Wage Formation had been signed, aspects of the cooperation were formalised and the unions drew up certain governing
rules on collective bargaining.

The unions agree that the cooperation should in no way restrict their powers to act alone and that cooperation within it should not be obstructed by their different opinions on specific issues.

The idea of the cooperation is not to create one single union representing all employees within industry.

Why have industrial cooperation?
The cooperation is unique in many ways. It includes Swedish Trade Union Confederation members from different sectors of industry (the foodstuffs industry, the metal industry etc.) and crosses the traditional boundary between “blue collar worker” and “white-collar worker” on the Swedish labour market. The unions belong to three different central organisations: the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO), the Confederation of Professional Employees (TCO) and the Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations (SACO).

This cooperation provides the industrial unions with a platform to create new opportunities, and if it works well, will make each individual union grow stronger.

The fundamental conditions for industrial companies operating in Sweden are in many ways similar. They are active on a market subjected to stiff international competition. The pace of change is high, and international influence is considerable. Sweden’s industrial structure is dominated by a number of major Swedish and international groups working together with constellations of smaller companies. Comparable conditions naturally mean that certain issues, such as employment conditions, will also be similar.

For a small, export-dependent country like Sweden, industrial developments have a direct impact on the national economy. It is industrial employees who bear the initial brunt of a domestic economy falling out of step with those of the surrounding markets.

The cooperation unions represent the majority of industrial employees. This means that the Swedish Unions within Industry also represents the core of what the OECD calls “the manufacturing sector”. The Swedish Unions within Industry believes that pay increments in this sector should set the standard for the rest of the labour market and that this is essential to an efficient wage formation process. This opinion is also shared by groups outside the industrial sector.

Background
If the Swedish Unions within Industry were to have a birthday, so to speak, then June 1, 1996 would probably be the most suitable date. It was on this day that Dagens Nyheter, one of Sweden’s national morning paper, published an open letter from the industrial unions inviting the sector’s employers to talks on industrial development, competence development and wage formation.

At the time, the situation in Sweden was in many ways bleak. Unemployment was high, government finances were dreadful, and the 1995 collective bargaining rounds had resulted in open conflicts. Employers and trade unions were at loggerheads about almost everything – including how to negotiate – and the government threatened to intervene on wage formation if they did not take responsibility.

One of the important aims of the talks was for the parties to agree on measures to strengthen and develop Swedish industry, which in the early 1990s had found itself in a severe crisis that eventually led to the loss of 200,000 – 300,000 jobs. Any recurrence of this had to be prevented, something which ought also to have been in the interests of the employers. The Swedish Unions within Industry believed that the parties should also be able to concur on negotiation procedures, despite their having different opinions on issues concerning pay, working hours, forms of employment etc.

Talks commenced in the middle of the autumn of 1996, and by March 18, 1997 the parties were able to sign the “Cooperation Agreement on Industrial Development and Wage Formation”.

Five responsibilities
The Swedish Unions within Industry has five main responsibilities:
· to coordinate the unions’ dealings with employer representatives in industry
· to strengthen and develop the cooperation between the unions and between the employer parties in order to develop Swedish industry
· to prepare questions ahead of the Industrial Committee’s meetings
· to promote closer and more solid collaboration between the unions on all levels (from the local to the international)
· to seek cooperation on issues of policy and practical matters to improve efficiency and to thereby enable the better use of union resources.

Common agreement platform
One of the Swedish Unions within Industry’s key responsibilities is to coordinate the unions’ dealings with employer representatives. This is particularly important ahead of and during collective bargaining. Before the collective bargaining sessions in 1998 and 2001, the Swedish Unions within Industry laid down a common agreement platform, which formed the basis of the unions’ demands during negotiations on all spheres of application within industry (wage increases, reductions in working hours, competence development agreements etc). During these wage negotiations there was close cooperation between the union representatives and negotiators in the unions concerned. In several spheres of application – in engineering, for example – there was also close cooperation between the “blue collar unions” and the “white collar unions” at times when they have had a common counterparty.

“Rules of procedure”
The unions agree to comply with certain “rules of procedure” during collective bargaining. These require, for instance, the unions to inform and consult each other before any demands are handed over to a signing counterparty, and a union to give other unions the opportunity to comment before it signs an agreement or gives notice of industrial action.

What is the Cooperation Agreement on Industrial Development and Wage Formation?

Organisation
The Council
The Swedish Unions within industry’s highest decision-making body is a Council consisting of two leading representatives of each union – in practice, the union president and collective bargaining secretary. The chairmanship of the Council rotates between the member unions and meetings are held approximately once a month.

The ALI Group
The unions’ collective bargaining secretaries are grouped together into the ALI Group (Agreements, Legal issues, Industrial unions). The ALI Group prepares issues ahead of Council meetings and consequently meets more frequently. During wage negotiations, the ALI Group meets about once a week, otherwise a little less regularly.

The Political Economist Group
The Political Economist Group consists of researchers and financial staff from the union offices. They meet in two different group compositions, one of a dozen or so members and a larger group comprising all researchers and political economists from the seven union head offices. The former group meets eight to ten times a year and the larger group less frequently.

The Swedish Unions within industry’s political economist staff produce their own research reports and analysis. One such report is the “Financial assessments” report, which is produced approximately once a year, analysing a variety of areas including wage increases, employment, inflation and competitiveness. The Political Economist Group arranges seminars, runs projects and prepares certain issues ahead of Council meetings.

The secretariat
The Swedish Unions within industry has a small administration secretariat whose main task is to coordinate and administer business and to initiate and run different projects.

Working and Ad Hoc Groups
The extended cooperation between the Swedish Unions within industry unions has led to the formation of a number of working and ad hoc groups. There are, for instance, reference groups for issues relating to wage statistics and the environment. The groups constitute a permanent forum for experience swapping, but can also be tasked to run certain temporary projects.

What is the Cooperation Agreement on Industrial Development and Wage Formation?
The first tangible result of the Swedish Unions within industry partnership was the “Cooperation Agreement on Industrial Development and Wage Formation”, which was signed by unions and employer organisations within industry on March 18, 1997. The agreement is often referred to as the “Industrial Cooperation Agreement” or simply the “Industrial Agreement”.

Purpose
The purpose of the Industrial Agreement is to promote industrial development, profitability and competitiveness on the Swedish labour market. This helps to create the conditions necessary for high employment, low unemployment and proper wage increments, and otherwise favourable conditions for employees.

Joint assessments
The Industrial Agreement contains a number of joint assessments between the parties on what are considered important conditions for sound industrial development in Sweden. It deals, for instance, with the strong international focus of Swedish industrial companies. Practically all industrial products sold – on domestic and foreign markets alike – are sold in an environment of global competition.

The Industrial Agreement also embodies a number of common assessments of the – partly new – macroeconomic conditions that appeared during the 1990s: the deregulation and internationalisation of the financial markets, the focus on low inflation, developments in the EU, and the formation of the EMU. Changes in economic conditions such as these have an immense impact on both wage formation and industrial activities.

Important areas of cooperation
In the Industrial Agreement, the unions and the employer organisations highlight a number of areas critical to Sweden’s industrial development. These include energy, research and development, and education and training. In order to help shape the conditions that Swedish industry encounters in these areas, the parties have set up a number of joint working groups.

The Industry Committee
In order to monitor and promote the application of the Industrial Agreement, the parties have set up an Industry Committee consisting of leading representatives of the unions and employer organisations covered by the Industrial Agreement. The Committee is also mandated to deal generally with issues aimed at creating good conditions for industry and its employees. The Industry Committee appoints impartial chairmen and members of the Economic Council for Industry.

The Economic Council for Industry
The Economic Council for Industry consists of four independent (of the parties) economists specialists appointed by the Industry Committee. The Economic Council for Industry is tasked with giving recommendations on financial matters on behalf of the Industry Committee, the impartial chairmen or a group of two or more union parties. Ahead of wage negotiations, the Economic Council for Industry issues one or more reports on the prevailing financial and economic conditions.

The Negotiation Agreement for Industry
The Cooperation Agreement on Industrial Development and Wage Formation also includes “The Negotiation Agreement for Industry”, which regulates how negotiations on new national agreements are to proceed. “The Negotiation Agreement for Industry” specifies, for instance, a schedule for the negotiations, which demands that negotiations are to commence by no later than three months before the current agreement expires. This schedule is designed to make sure that the negotiations have been concluded once this expiry date has been reached.

Impartial Chairmen
If the parties fail to reach an agreement by one month before the expiry of the current agreement, one or more impartial chairmen shall intervene to assist the parties in their negotiations. The duties and authorisations of the impartial chairmen are also regulated by the Industrial Agreement, which also stipulates that they are to be five to ten in number and appointed by the Industry Committee.

Addresses of the cooperation member unions

The Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers (Sveriges Ingenjörer)
Box 1419
SE-111 84 Stockholm
Tel: +46 (0)8 613 80 00
Fax: +46 (0)8 796 71 02
E-mail: info@sverigesingenjorer.se
Homepage: www.sverigesingenjorer.se

Unionen
SE-105 32 Stockholm
Tel: +46 (0)8 504 15 00
E-mail: koc@unionen.se
Homepage: www.unionen.se

The Swedish Foodworkers’ Union (Svenska Livsmedelsarbetareförbundet)
Box 1156
SE-111 81 Stockholm
Tel: +46 (0)8 796 29 00
Fax: +46 (0)8 796 29 03
E-mail: info@livs.se
Homepage: www.livs.se

IF Metall
(Industrifacket Metall)
SE-105 52 Stockholm
Tel: +46 (0)8 786 80 00
Fax: +46 (0)8 24 86 74
E-mail: post@ifmetall.se
Homepage: www.ifmetall.se

The Swedish Paper Workers’ Union (Svenska Pappersindustriarbetareförbundet)
Box 1127
SE-111 81 Stockholm
Tel: +46 (0)8 796 61 00
Fax: +46 (0)8 411 41 79
E-mail: info@pappers.se
Homepage: www.pappers.se

The Swedish Forest & Woodworkers´ Union (Skogs- och Träfacket)
Box 1152
SE-111 81 Stockholm
Tel: +46 (0)8 701 77 00
Fax: +46 (0)8 20 79 04
E-mail: postbox.fk@skogstrafacket.org
Homepage: www.skogstrafacket.org

The Swedish Unions within Industry
Secretariat
SE-105 52 Stockholm
Tel: +46 (0)8 786 80 00
Fax: +46 (0)8 20 95 86
E-mail: fi.kansli@fikansli.se
Homepage: www.fackeninomindustrin.se