A new collective agreement for 180,000 blue-collar workers in the Swedish retail trade was concluded in March 1998. Pay will be increased by 3.1% each year in 1998, 1999 and 2000. In addition, the employers have agreed to allocate 0.25% of annual paybill to a fund for skills development. The agreement was reached without the assistance of mediators and before the old agreement had expired, which sets a new pattern for this sector.
A new agreement on wages and working conditions for 180,000 blue-collar workers in the Swedish retail trade was signed on 20 March 1998. For the first time, the settlement is a three-party agreement between the Commercial Employees Union, (Handelsanställdas förbund, Handels) and the two employers' organisations, the Swedish Federation of Trade, Commerce and Service (Svensk Handel och Tjänsteföretagen) and the Cooperative Employers' Association (Kooperationens förhandlingsorganisation, KFO).
The agreement runs from 1 April 1998 to 1 April 2001. In percentage terms, the pay increases will be higher than in other sectors - the retail trade is a low-wage sector with an average monthly wage of SEK 13,800. Every full-time employee is guaranteed SEK 300 more per month from 1 April in each of the three years. In addition SEK 130 per employee will be allocated through company-level negotiations in 1998, SEK 145 in 1999 and SEK 160 in 2000 Thus, in total, average pay will increase by 3.1% every year. In addition, the increase in minimum holiday pay is greater than the increase in monthly wages, which means that the lowest paid are favoured by the agreement.
The parties have also agreed that 0.25% of companies' total yearly paybill will be allocated into a fund for the development, education and training of employees. In an annex to the agreement, the parties have outlined how to enhance employees' competence and skills. The main points are
- a joint survey of the current and future needs with regard to the skills and competence of employees; and
- the employer may have a development interview with every employee to map his or her needs for development, education and training. The central parties have developed a tool for those interviews.
In another annex, the parties have also set new rules for working time. From now on, average weekly working time will be 38 hours 15 minutes, calculated over a reference period of 10 weeks. Previously, it was 40 hours a week averaged over a whole year.
That fact that the parties in the retail trade were able to agree on general pay and conditions for a three-year period without mediation and before the old agreement had expired, sets a new pattern in this sector. Traditionally, negotiations in this industry have always been very difficult.