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From: Fanny westling, TT
Published:
Updated:
Employers and industry unions agree to a 5.4 percent pay increase for 29 months.
The negotiations have been long and tough, and the unions presented the result as a triumph.
– This will be the new brand that will rule the Swedish job market, says Marie Nilsson, IF Metall.
The industrial agreement, which affects 2.8 million Swedes, was not negotiated in spring as usual, due to the pandemic.
Instead, the signing of a new agreement was postponed seven months, but yesterday, October 31, the previous agreement expired.
But now it’s clear: there will be a 5.4 percent pay increase in 29 months, which the union presented as a victory.
– In a historically difficult contract move, we have managed to shift and adjust the rate of pay increase towards the previous period, says Ulrika Lindstrand, president of the Swedish engineers union.
Photo: Jessica Gow / TT NEWS AGENCY
Marie Nilsson, IF Metall.
Highest annual rate
Negotiations continued until the last minute, and the agreement presented today will take effect immediately, until March 31, 2023.
This is 0.9 percentage points above what the brokers last provided, and the annual rate is 2.23 percent. It can be said that it is better, on the part of the workers, than the agreement previously presented by the mediators.
– This agreement contains a higher annual rate than the previous agreement we signed, and this will be the new brand that rules the Swedish labor market, says Marie Nilsson, IF Metall.
Name some of the factors that have been important in the negotiations.
– It was extremely important for the LO unions to get a low pay raise, says Nilsson.
However, retroactive salaries from April 1 will not be relevant, something that was previously a requirement.
– It has been important for us to achieve a future agreement in which we achieved a good level from the beginning. So we are quite pleased to have gotten a deal that gives a 3 percent increase as of today, says Marie Nilsson.
Photo: Jessica Gow / TT NEWS AGENCY
Union representatives during the press conference on industry contract negotiations.
“The best that was for sale”
Conditions have been tough. The industrial agreement not only affects the industrial sector, but establishes the so-called wage framework for many different industries – industries that are affected in completely different ways as a result of the pandemic.
– It is everything from companies that are more or less located with commercial prohibitions, companies that have little capacity to pay and companies that have left more or less normally, says Tomas Undin, chief negotiator of technology companies.
This is one of the reasons why it has been difficult for the parties to agree, but Tomas Undin says they have nevertheless chosen to sign an agreement.
-This was the best agreement that was for sale, he says and points out that it will be difficult for different sectors.
– We are aware of that and we will have to deal with it, says Tomas Undin.
Photo: Jessica Gow / TT NEWS AGENCY
The chief negotiator of the technology companies, Tomas Undin, and the chief negotiator of Industriarbetsgivarna, Per Widolf.
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