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The value of the deal was ultimately a 5.4 percent salary increase in 29 months, 0.9 percentage points more than the last offer from the mediators.
– We have signed an agreement with a value of 5.4 percent that has a duration of 29 months. The annual rate is 2.23 percent, confirms IF Metall president Marie Nilsson at a press conference Sunday morning.
This is a slightly higher wage growth rate than before.
LO joints inside the industry has achieved a low-wage investment in which an additional pot is reserved for those who earn less than 26,000 a month.
Ulrika Lindstrand, President of the Swedish Engineers Union, IF Metall Union President Marie Nilsson and Eva Guovelin, Livs Union President during the press conference
Photo: Jessica Gow
The fact that the value is 5.4 percent means that the salary increases will in practice be between 4.9 and 5.0 percent, since the value also includes, among other things, the revaluations of the pensions.
The deal also means there won’t be any Retroactive benefits from April, when the previous agreement expired.
The employer side seemed less satisfied with the agreement and had assumed that the rate of pay increase would decrease. Now it was a marginal increase from 2.17 to 2.23 percent.
– It was extremely difficult to reach an agreement this time. We have a situation where we have an agreement that accommodates everything from companies that have more or less a commercial ban, have little ability to pay, and companies that function normally. With that scope, it has been difficult to find an agreement with acceptance, says Tomas Undin, chief negotiator for the technology companies.
It was mostly with thought on the pandemic and how the restrictions affected companies that the employer side wanted to keep wage demands low.
– We can affirm that with the result we are at a rate marginally higher than the previous agreement, basically the same rate. We did not reach the end with a downshift. Personally, I find it difficult to see that this agreement strengthens the competitiveness of the industry in the short term. But it has a value in itself that we have reached a long agreement, of 29 months. It contributes to stability in the labor market, in the long term we create clear conditions for companies to develop their competitiveness, says Per Widolf, from Industriarbetsgivarna.
The industrial agreement, which affects 2.8 million Swedes, was postponed this spring due to the pandemic. Before negotiations were postponed, the unions demanded, among other things, a three percent wage increase for twelve months, a continuous reduction in working hours, measures against on-the-job injuries and a low-wage investment.
Marie Nilsson, President of IF Metall.
Photo: Jessica Gow
Instead, the employer side offered a 1.4 percent annual increase, but then included all the requirements that imply higher costs. An offer that later the unions did not accept.
In a previous offering from Opo, there were 4.5 percent pay increases for 29 months. The employers accepted the offer, but not the industrial unions.
Read more: IF Metall: No salary announcement until Sunday
