In this year’s collective bargaining, strikes have been announced by some unions. Train staff, gardeners, painters and plumbing workers are among those who rattled the conflict weapon. We also remember the pilot strike from last year, and have just been able to breathe a sigh of relief after the Swedish Transport Workers Union’s strike notice, which threatened air traffic, was averted this summer. The Swedish Port Workers’ Association’s notice in the ports remains, however.
But are these unions the easiest to resort to the weapon of conflict?
Simplification of reality
Per Ewaldsson, chief legal officer at the state Mediation Institute, does not want to appoint any trade union as the leader of the strike league.
— We do not make lists. It becomes such a simplification of reality, he says.
It is very, very difficult to compare the fighting will of unions with each other, he explains, because the unions are so different in size, and many operate in many different occupational areas with many collective agreements.
Some giant unions such as Kommunal and Unionen have lots of different collective agreements in widely different professional areas. Then it is not so strange if there are many notices, they can concern many different professional groups.
Others, such as the Swedish Pilot Association, only have about ten collective agreements and relatively few members, he says.
When it comes to notice, i.e. the threat of a strike, there are a handful of unions that have given notice in more than 20 contract negotiations during the 2000s. It is the Swedish Transport Workers’ Union and the Swedish Pilot Association, together with Unionen, Kommunal and Seko.
If you look at the cases where strike notices also really led to strikes during the 2000s, the Swedish Pilots’ Association and the Swedish Transport Workers’ Union are also at the top, he explains. Last year, for example, the pilots at SAS went on strike.
Special circumstances
But for the Swedish Pilot Association there are some special circumstances, he mentions.
— In recent years, some airlines have had major financial problems with low-cost competition. In the 2022 strike for the pilots, they agreed to pay cuts. So the conflict was not about how much more in salary they would get, but how much less.
— You also have to look at the business and what the conflict is about, and how the employers act.
The Swedish Port Workers’ Union, which announced a strike now, has not had a collective agreement before 2019. Before that there were several local strikes, says Per Ewaldsson.
— The big strike for the dock workers was in 2019, before they got their collective agreement.
It would also be possible to look at the number of working days lost in the 2000s due to strikes. Then Municipal is at the top. But not because they are particularly prone to strikes, but because they are so big, he explains. Municipal went on strike around twenty years ago, and the conflict was very extensive. Then a lot of working days were lost, explains Per Ewaldsson.