Parliament approves ban on industrial action against small companies

In March 2000, the Swedish parliament defeated the minority Social Democrat government and introduced a ban on industrial action against sole traders and family companies with no employees other than family members into a government bill on mediation and wage formation.

On 15 March 2000, the Swedish parliament approved the bill concerning the new National Mediation Office (Medlingsinstitutet), aimed at mediating in industrial conflicts and working towards a well-functioning system of pay determination (SE9912110F), which will begin work on 1 June 2000. During the parliamentary debate on the bill, the opposition succeeded in reintroducing a ban, first imposed in 1994, on industrial action against sole traders and family companies with no employees other than family members (though once the company owner takes on a non-family worker, the normal rules will apply).

In 1994, a coalition government consisting of the Conservative, Liberal and Centre Parties amended the rules in the Act on Co-Determination (medbestämmandelagen) and banned industrial action against sole traders and family companies with no employees other than family members. The aim was to protect such companies that did not wish to enter into collective agreements, with the government considering action against such companies without union members as being meaningless. However, the new Social Democrat government which came to power in the autumn of 1994, led by Prime Minister Ingemar Carlsson, immediately revoked this rule, claiming that the ban was a violation of the constitutional right of unions to take industrial action. For any ban on industrial action to be defendable it should be required by the need to solve serious problems or because the action represents a crime against fundamental principles, the government reasoned. It believed that there were no such problems or principles involved in this case (proposition 1994/95:76). The ban thus lasted for only one year, 1994.

The issue of reinstating the ban was heavily discussed in parliament before the government presented its National Mediation Office bill (SE9812129F), but the government, under some pressure from the trade unions, did not make any proposal to reintroduce the ban. However, the majority on the parliamentary labour market committee (arbetsmarknadsutskottet) argued in March 2000 that it was unfair that a union was allowed to take industrial action against sole traders and family companies with no external employees (1999/2000:AU5). The aim of such action could only be to conclude a collective agreement that in practice was not going to affect working conditions in this kind of company. A small company affected by such action could also suffer unreasonable damage, it was stated. The committee thus proposed introducing a ban into the bill. The minority Social Democrat government usually pushes through its proposals with the help of the Green Party (Miljöpartiet de Gröna) and the Left Party (vänsterpartiet), but on this occasion, when the committee's proposal was put to the vote, parliament voted in favour by 155 votes to 153 votes on the Social Democrat/Left Party side.

Meanwhile, at the end of March 2000 the Swedish Employers' Confederation (Svenska Arbetsgivareföreningen, SAF) announced to the media that its board would decide at the end of April 2000 whether or not it will take seats in three expert councils to be set up by the National Mediation Office. The councils are intended to bring together representatives from the social partners. SAF, concerned about centralisation and the possibility of a governmental income policy, has stated that it is very negative about the idea of linking expert councils to the new National Mediation Office. The Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations (Sveriges Akademikers Centralorganisation,SACO) and the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (Tjänstemännens Centralorganisation, TCO) are also reluctant about taking part in such councils, and will discuss the issue internally later in the spring.