Chemicals industry concludes first agreement of 2001 bargaining round

In January 2001, the social partners in the chemicals industry concluded the first collective agreement of Sweden's 2001 bargaining round. The deal will give the sector's 26,000 workers a total pay rise over 38 months of 8.45%, taking into account an annual working time reduction of one day.

In early 2001, negotiations are underway over new sectoral collective agreements to replace the three-year deals signed in 1998 (SE9806190F). On 16 January, the first agreement of the 2001 bargaining round was concluded in the chemicals industry, two weeks before the existing accord was due to expire.

The signatories to the three-year agreement are the Almega Industrial and Chemical Association (Almega Industri och Kemiförbundet) - a branch of the Swedish Service Employers' Association (Almega Tjänsteföretagen), which is affiliated to the Swedish Employers' Association (Svenska Arbetsgivareföreningen, SAF) - and the Industrial Union (Industrifacket), affiliated to the Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen_,_ LO). They represent industries including rubber, plastics and pharmaceuticals.

The new chemicals agreement provides for a pay rise of 7% over 38 months from 1 February 2001, plus a one-day reduction in annual working time worth 0.5% per year, or 1.5 % over the 38-month period. Special pay provisions apply to the lowest-paid workers in the sector, which are worth 0.2 percentage points on top of the general 7% increase. The deal also provides that the "annual leave pay guarantee" will be increased by SEK 35 each year during the agreement's lifetime. The parties also agreed various other provisions relating to working time, skills development and the wage system.

The parties to the chemicals agreement stated that the pay rises - around 0.5 points higher than those agreed for 1998-2001 - are at the same level as those foreseen in other EU countries. This fact was noted by the government, which expressed the hope that negotiators in other sectors would follow the same pattern.

The chemicals agreement was concluded after two impartial chairs, Agneta Dreber and Claes Stråth, made a final recommendation. The impartial chairs had taken a leading role in the negotiations in accordance with the 1997 agreement on cooperation and bargaining procedures in the industry sector (SE9703110N), after Industrifacket had turned down an offer from the employers.

In early January, trade unions also rejected employers' offers in negotiations in two other sectors - the Swedish Metalworkers' Union (Svenska Metallindustriarbetareförbundet, Metall) in the steel industry, and the Swedish Paper Workers' Union (Svenska Pappersarbetareförbundet, Pappers) in the paper and pulp industry (where negotiations were suspended on 18 January in a dispute over pay rises). The most eagerly awaited agreement is that in metalworking, where negotiations between the Swedish Engineering Industries (Verkstadsindustrierna, VI) and Metall are experiencing some difficulties. Metall's demands for this sector were the first to be issued in the bargaining round (SE0010170N), but talks were adjourned and it was not certain in mid-January that the parties would reach an agreement before the current deal expires on 31 January 2001.