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The question of a renewed labor law has been supported and drenched for several years. But now a final offer has been put on the table and the LO board will announce its position on the outcome of the negotiations at a press conference on Friday afternoon.
Now it is clear that the proposal will be rejected.
– Today’s message is not very funny, it is not the best, we could have wanted to go further, says the president of LO, Susanna Gideonsson, at the press conference.
It is a unanimous board that voted no on the last proposal that was presented as a final offer in the negotiations.
– I want to emphasize that there have been constructive and good negotiations, says Torbjörn Johansson, secretary of the LO agreement.
– The questions have been too difficult in general. With the bill that has been lying, the uphill and this became too difficult to overcome, he continues.
What points What have been the big problems or where they coincided, LO does not want to enter.
Since October 1, all LO unions have been in separate contract negotiations within their respective areas. Many of the issues that have been handled in recent negotiations will now be moved there, says Susanna Gideonsson.
But it is not possible for all unions. IF Metall, which is LO’s largest industrial union, has already filed its demands for collective bargaining this year.
– We do not have any of these problems, but we will come back to that later, it is not possible in this movement to agree on our part, says IF Metall president Marie Nilsson.
What made you vote no?
– That was it. So it happens that for different unions, different things are of different importance. We thought the fit issues were really good, but unfortunately the priority issue was too far reaching. That’s what made it impossible for us, says Marie Nilsson.
The background of today’s message of LO is long. As early as 2017, LO requested talks with the Confederation of Swedish Enterprises about, among other things, adjustment opportunities and safer employment.
In March 2019, PTK, the cooperative organization of trade unions organizing salaried employees in the private sector, also requested to negotiate employment adjustment and protection with the Confederation of Swedish Enterprises. Later that year, the three reached a letter of intent on what areas the negotiations will affect.
These are rules on labor protection, adjustment systems and unemployment insurance. Only now, during the fall, have the discussions adequately escalated.
The business side, among other things, has pushed for more flexible priority rules to be established and has wanted to relax the concept of “factual basis for dismissal”, in order to be able to fire employees for personal reasons.
In September everything went well In what appeared to be a final stage, the deadline was set for the night between September 30 and October 1.
LO President Susanna Gideonsson on September 30, on her way to the Swedish Municipalities and Regions (SKR) to discuss the.
Photo: Fredrik Sandberg / TT
Parallel to the negotiations, political pressure on the parties has increased. A state investigation has been carried out on the issue of the renewal of the labor law, and its proposal must, according to the January agreement, be implemented through legislation if the parties cannot reach an agreement. This would mean, among other things, more opportunities for exceptions to the priority rules, the so-called last-in, first-out principle and a relaxation of the factual basis requirement in the event of termination.
Something that would not be especially popular with the working class. In general, all sides of the negotiating table have agreed that they want to keep politicians and legislators away from these issues. They want to protect the Swedish model in which the social partners themselves set the framework.
Despite this, negotiations stalled just before the deadline.
– We couldn’t get to the end. We have fought extremely hard and have done everything possible to reach an agreement, PTK chief negotiator Martin Wästfelt told DN late on the night of September 30.
– Sometimes it doesn’t work. It is not an individual issue that he has fallen into, but it is a general assessment that we were too far away, he said.
Photo: Ola Hedin
When the negotiations stalled, the press was transferred to Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. With the January agreement, it had agreed that the investigation proposal should be applied if the parties cannot reach an agreement.
At the same time, the Left Party presented a threat to request a vote of no confidence if Löfven chose to continue with the investigation proposal. It seemed, somewhat simplified, that he had the option of betraying the January agreement or betraying the labor movement from which he himself comes and also risk a vote of no confidence.
Wait a minute and give the parties another chance, was the government’s message.
The pressure on Prime Minister Stefan Löfven was great after Sunday’s party leader debate on SVT, where reading questions and the threat of mistrust were hot topics.
Photo: Jessica Gow
Since the September 30 accident, neither party had shown significant signs that further negotiations might be necessary. But then the message came on Wednesday:
“Negotiations will begin on Thursday, October 15, and will be carried out with the aim of resolving pending issues on which negotiations have previously stalled,” a press release wrote.
The parties have been quiet and the lid has been closed, until Thursday night. Then information about a final offer began to leak. According to information to DN on Friday morning, the parties would have until 1:00 p.m. to accept or reject the final offer, but the message arrived much later.
Also read: Decisive hours in the last negotiations
