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full screen The pressure on the S-management led by Magdalena Andersson is increasing around the issue of shorter working hours. Photo: Nora Savosnick
The internal pressure is increasing for the leadership of the Social Democrats to go to elections with reduced working hours.
But leading Social Democrats are resisting and the issue could have the potential to split the party at the S-Congress next year.
– The goal cannot be that we should just work less, says an S source.
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The Social Democrats are gearing up to lead the country during the next term.
The party’s internal working groups have therefore begun to deliver political proposals in several areas that should result in election wins in 2026.
One of the most attention-grabbing proposals that has come from the working groups is shortened working hours.
S-top Annika Strandhäll came forward in early August with a proposal which, in short, means that the 40-hour week should be shortened to 35 hours by 2035.
– We believe that this is something that Swedish wage earners want, said Strandhäll when the proposal was presented.
Even among the general public, support for reduced working hours seems to be strong. In Aftonbladet/Demoskop’s survey in July, 58 percent of the respondents answered that they were too short working hours.
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full screenAnnika Strandhäll. Photo: Carolina Byrmo
“Must not become a question of vote fishing”
But the question is what the Social Democratic party leadership wants.
Magdalena Andersson has spoken out in cautious terms about shortening working hours. In May, she said Dagens Arena that it is “good that shortening working hours is discussed“.
From LO’s side, they are doubtful that the politicians will step in and legislate on the matter. Instead, they first and foremost want the social partners to negotiate on the issue.
– Legislation must not become a matter of vote fishing. The Swedish model means that we take the issue, said LO chairman Johan Lindholm to Aftonbladet in June.
Annika Strandhäll’s proposal meant that the abbreviation should first be tested in a research project with 5,000 workers and then evaluated.
No answer has been given as to what the cost will be for a shortening of the kind that S’s working group wants to see until 2035.
On the other hand, the Swedish Business Association has pointed to a reduction in GDP of 8.1 percent.
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full screen LO chairman Johan Lindholm. Photo: Lotte Fernvall
“Must bring the members along”
The S-group’s proposal is to be threshed at the party’s congress in Gothenburg next year.
But several high-ranking social democrats are already testifying that they are skeptical about moving forward with a proposal that is as offensive as the one the working group advocates.
According to a central person in the party, the party will produce several alternatives to the working group’s proposal, where the abbreviation can be posted in other ways.
Possible ways include lowering the retirement age for certain occupational groups or that only certain labor occupations should be covered by the reduction.
Annika Strandhäll has stated that her proposal is the “liberty reform of the century”.
But leading people in the party want to play down the proposal and believe that it will not be as sharp as the working group wishes.
– We have a long way to go until there is anything at all from that, says an S source.
– First it has to be negotiated and then those who want to get something through at all have to get the members on board.
Potential fight in Congress
The issue of shortening working hours has, according to the source, the potential to become one of the toughest battles at the party congress in Gothenburg.
S representatives who are on the left of the party, like several trade unions within LO, want to see abbreviations.
But there is resistance among leading representatives who see the proposal as an election promise that is both expensive and difficult to get other parties on board with, mainly in the middle of Swedish politics.
– It is still the working groups that make their proposals, it must go into a process and you do not have to go ahead with the whole proposal.
– It will go into negotiations and there I can’t see that we will implement the entire proposal as it is now.
Ideally, the person does not want the party to have to deal with the issue at all.
– The working group goes quite far in its proposals. The Social Democrats would rather see a line where the parties primarily work on it.
An S source points out that municipalities have tested different variants of shortening working hours and that those tests could be seen as models for what the party may implement.
But the source sees it as an impossibility that S will go to the polls in 2026 on workers generally working fewer hours.
– The goal cannot be that we should just work less. But if people can take less sick leave or work longer, that’s good.