Electricians' work environment dispute resolved

After three weeks of strike action, a new collective agreement covering 18,000 installation electricians was signed at the end of May 2004 by the Swedish Electric Contractors' Association (EIO) and the Swedish Electricians' Union (SEF). As well as pay rises, a key point in the dispute was the union's demand to include work environment provisions in the agreement. The deal reached provides for a 7.3% pay rise over three years and the intervention of the Work Environment Authority in the event of disagreements over the work environment.

On 30 May 2004, the Swedish Electric Contractors' Association ( Svenska Elektriska Installatörsorganisationen, EIO) and the Swedish Electricians' Union (Svenska Elektrikerförbundet, SEF) concluded a new three-year collective agreement covering 18,000 installation electricians. This ended strike actions, involving over 1,000 electricians, that had been going on for three weeks at various building sites across Sweden. The dispute was primarily over a work environment issue, but also concerned pay rises and pay systems.

Bargaining over the new agreement resulted in mediation, which ended when the employers turned down a final proposal from the mediators on the grounds that the pay deal was too expensive. On 10 May, 450 installation electricians at 34 building sites were called out on strike by SEF. A week later, another strike started with several hundred electricians stopping work at the NEA electrical contracting group. A third strike started on 24 May, involving 400 electricians at the Skanska construction firm. A fourth strike was due to start in June involving 150 installation electricians at the Volvo Aero and SKF metalworking companies. Overall about 1,200 electricians were on strike during the period from 10 May to 30 May 2004. Furthermore, the Swedish Building Workers' Union (Svenska Byggnadsarbetareförbundet, Byggnads), the Swedish Transport Workers' Union (Svenska Transportarbetareförbundet, Transport) and the Swedish Painters' Union (Svenska Målarförbundet) gave notice of sympathy actions at some of the building sites affected by the strikes.

SEF's main non-pay demand in the bargaining round related to 'a continuous dissatisfaction with the stressful timetables' of its members in the building industry. The union demanded that some relevant provisions of of the Work Environment Act should be enshrined in the collective agreement. This proposal was strongly opposed by the EIO employers' organisation, on the grounds that employer would, in the event of a dispute, be 'punished twice'- ie in the event of a breach of the work environment provisions in question an employer might have to pay damages both according to the Act (if fined by the work environment authorities) and according to the provisions in the collective agreement.

Employers' proposal

On 19 May 2004, seven employers' associations in the building sector, including EIO, presented a proposal for a joint solution of the 'well-known' work environment problems in the industry. They proposed that a working group containing representatives of the seven employers' associations and four trade unions in the building sector should be established in order to draw up a general branch collective agreement on the work environment. The SEF union immediately rejected the proposal. The other three trade unions concerned also declined, saying that they already had work environment regulations in their respective collective agreements.

In June 2003, SEF was involved in a similar conflict over the same issue of stress in the building sector. The Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen, LO) intervened by stating that the work environment issue should be dealt with at a higher and more general level, and thus resolved the conflict for the time being (SE0308101N). Thus, at the beginning of the 2004 bargaining round across the whole economy, LO drew up a uniform set of demands for an improved work environment that all its member blue-collar trade unions were to submit for negotiation (SE0402101N). In the renewed electricians dispute in 2004, LO announced in public that it supported the strike actions, and stated that SEF's demands corresponded well with the framework set by LO in January 2004.

New agreement

The new three-year collective agreement signed by EIO and SEF at the end of May contains a clause stating that, in the event of differing opinions over work environment issues, an inspector from the Work Environment Authority (Arbetsmiljöverket) will be called upon. The inspector will investigate the matter and the employer concerned will obey any instructions issued by the inspector. If the employer does not follow the instructions, this will be seen as a breach of the collective agreement and it may have to pay damages to the trade union. This clause may be cancelled after two years if any of the parties is dissatisfied.

The electricians will receive a pay rise worth 7.3% over three years, while there will be an annual working time cut of nine hours during the first year. The pay rise is in line with the other collective agreements concluded in the spring 2004 bargaining round (SE0403103F).

EIO is an affiliate of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv). It has 2,600 member companies with 23,000 employees in the electricity, information and communication businesses. According to EIO, the electricians' industrial action cost the companies and the wider economy more than SEK 50 million.

SEF, an affiliate of LO, has about 27,000 members, of whom 18,000 work in the installation business.

Commentary

It is too early to draw any conclusions concerning LO's aim of including work environment issues in collective agreements in the 2004 bargaining round (the round is not yet finished at the time of writing). However, the collective agreements reached by LO affiliated in the food sector, the forest and pulp sectors and the wood furniture industry contain various clauses on the work environment. There have also been some advances in agreements concluded by unions affiliated to the white-collar Swedish Confederation of Salaried Employees (Tjänstemannaorganisationen, TCO), with some establishing local working groups to discuss work environment issues in companies.

LO may also have taken an important step in another area, as a result of intervening in the two electricians' conflicts and taking the initiative to call for common work environment demands by its member unions. At the beginning of the 1990s, the social partner confederations stepped back and left almost all bargaining duties to their sectoral affiliates. In broad terms, the forerunner of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise - the Swedish Employers' Association (Svenska Arbetsgivareföreningen, SAF) - decided to withdraw for several reasons, and the trade union confederations had to follow. The key role of bargaining over pay and general employment conditions is now handled by the central organisations' affiliates at sector level. This has worked out well, but some trade unions may perceive that on certain occasions it is useful to refer matters to a higher level. LO may now have shown that it is possible to act in this way, and that a former central bargaining organisation still has something to contribute. (Annika Berg, Arbetslivsinstitutet)