Sweden

Yonatan Reshef
School of Business

University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
T6G 2R6 CANADA


F 1889 - S.A.P. (Social Democratic Party)

F 1898 - L.O. (Major labor federation of blue collar workers)

F 1902 - S.A.F. (Employers' association)

F 1906 - The December Compromise

F 1919 - Universal suffrage

F 1920 - 8-hour working day is legislated. The law covers only industrial works.  It excludes sailors, maids, farm workers, etc,

F 1928 - Collective Agreements Act (collective agreements are legally binding; no strikes during the life of a collective agreement)

F 1928 - Labor Courts Act (LCs are established to administer and interprets collective agreements)

F 1932 - S.A.P. elected to government (1932-1976; 1982-1991; 1994-)

F 1936 - Act on the Right of Association and Negotiation (covers white collar employees)

F 1938 - Basic Agreement (Saltsjobaden Agreement)

F 1946 - Joint Councils Agreement (LO-SAF). Joint councils are formed at the company or plant level. The TCO is excluded. An agreement between the TCO and SAF is concluded shortly thereafter.

F 1950 - The Rehn/Meidner plan (the Swedish Model)

F 1952 - the first Solidaristic Wage Agreement (SWA) is signed in the private sector

F 1960 - The first SWA is signed in the public sector

F 1976 - Codetermination Act

F 1982 - Wage Earner Funds (abolished in 1992)

F 1990 - the government announces a 2-year general pay freeze and strike ban; union opposition; government resigns; a new SD government is formed

F 1991 - the Rehnberg Commission: unions and employers accept a 2-year stabilization agreement. Local negotiations are prohibited in 1991, and any wage drift will be subtracted from 1992 increases

F 1997 - Industrial Agreement: In March 1997 the foundation was laid of the most important innovation of the rule system for bargaining and conflict resolution on the Swedish labour market since the Saltsjobaden Agreement. This was done through the ”Agreement on industrial development and wage formation”, signed by all the employer associations belonging to SAF and all the national unions within the industrial sector.