The Civil Servants' Union has just concluded its days where the union council has established the principles for the major collective agreement where millions of employees will have their working conditions updated next spring.
We have become very clear in our writing that deductions will be made for shorter working hours. In a much clearer way than before, says Unionen's chairman Peter Hellberg.
"General pressure"
The debate about shorter working hours has gained momentum over the past year, also politically. But Unionen wants to keep politicians away, shorter working hours will be negotiated with employers.
There is a general pressure now that I hope and believe that employers also feel. That they are now willing to discuss how we can do it. So that we can maintain influence over how it will be done, so that politics does not interfere. Because we do not want that, and neither do employers, says Peter Hellberg.
The goal is 100 hours of shorter working hours per year. In some of Unionen's collective agreement areas, particularly in industry, previous collective agreements have resulted in shorter working hours of 60 hours, time paid from the wage space.
Isn't it good if you get help from politicians?
If politics intervenes, it will still require the use of wage space for it. Because employers will come to the next negotiation after such a political decision and say: "Yes, sorry, but the entire wage space was used by politicians. So if we are not to lose competitiveness against the rest of the world, you cannot get anything".
Increased pace
Besides working hours, the wage issue is of course highly prioritized. And just like LO-facket IF Metall and others have previously flagged, Unionen demands an "upgraded" wage increase pace.
It's over with "moderate" wage increases of 2-2.5 percent per year, is the union's message. They should go up one percentage point, just like the last wage movement. That inflation then began to rise had nothing to do with it, but about whether companies were considered able to afford the higher wages, according to Hellberg.
The upgrade was really just about Swedish companies having the opportunity to pay for it.
Companies have strengthened their competitiveness, according to the union.
Now that we see low inflation, there is no reason to slow down the upgrade. Because we are in the same situation as we were then, says Peter Hellberg.
