'Collaboration agreements' and statutory mediation helpful in 2001 bargaining round

Many of the sectoral collective agreements signed in Sweden in 2001 came about following statutory mediation or similar procedures based on 'collaboration agreements' between the social partners. This is among the key findings of the first annual report of the new National Mediation Office, published in February 2002, which examines collective bargaining and wage formation in 2001.

In February 2002, the National Mediation Office (Medlingsinstitutet) presented its first annual report, covering 2001. The National Mediation Office was established in 2000 (SE9912110F) and its primary function is to be responsible for mediation in labour disputes in cases where the social partners have not reached their own agreements on bargaining rules and mediation (see below). The National Mediation Office's most important goal, as formulated by its director-general Anders Lindström in May 2001(SE0105195F), is to achieve a well-functioning and sustainable process of wage formation on the Swedish labour market. Among the National Mediation Office's tasks is the publication of an annual report on wage developments. The National Mediation Office is also responsible for public wage statistics, conducting analyses and promoting research, all in order to provide a sound basis for the social partners' wage negotiations.

The conditions for wage formation in Sweden have altered in recent years, according to the National Mediation Office's report on 2001. This is partly due to the objective of price stability adopted by the Swedish national bank (Riksbank) and sanctioned by law, and partly due to the social partners having reached 'collaboration agreements' (samarbetsavtal) on wage formation in a number of sectors. These agreements lay down specific bargaining procedures and timetables. The first to be concluded, in 1997, was the cooperation agreement covering the various branches of the industry sector (SE9703110N), which set the pattern for further cooperation/collaboration agreements in the private sector. The central and local government and city council sectors have also concluded similar agreements (SE0006146N). At the end of 2001, there were 16 collaboration agreements over negotiating procedures registered with the National Mediation Office. These agreements cover about half of all employees in Sweden.

Independent chairs

Collaboration agreements often provide for independent and impartial chairs to participate in the bargaining process, and this is the case in the collaboration agreement covering the industry sector (SE9907182N), which was in place during both the 1998 and the 2001 bargaining rounds. Independent chairs, states the National Mediation Office's annual report, have become an established part of the negotiation process. In most major bargaining areas in the industrial sector, new pay agreements were thus reached in 1998 and 2001 with the participation of an independent chair. In the case of other private sector areas, agreement was reached in some 20 instances following mediation, either with the participation of a mediator appointed by the National Mediation Office or in accordance with agreements on bargaining procedure. In the local and county council (regional) government sectors, mediators participated in the negotiation of all major agreements. A significant number of collective agreements were thus concluded following either statutory mediation or similar procedures based on collaboration agreements, the report states.

2001 bargaining round

Most of the three-year sectoral collective agreements concluded in 1998 (SE9806190F) expired during the first quarter of 2001. As early as in the autumn of 2000 (SE0010170N), it was clear that the partners covered by the industry sector collaboration agreement were seeking a situation whereby early deals concluded in export industries faced by competition would provide a pointer and set the wage pattern for other bargaining areas. This was in line with the approach advocated by the government and with the agreements on bargaining procedure drawn up in the public sector. The first collective agreements in the industry sector were concluded during the last two weeks of January and the first week of February (SE0101177N and SE0102182F). A level was established for wage increases that became 'normative' for those covered by the industry collaboration agreement, and also largely accepted in other bargaining areas (SE0105102F)

The industry agreement and other collaboration agreements provide that bargaining is to be conducted in such a way that the partners arrive at an agreement 'at the right time'- ie before the current agreement expires. Even in bargaining areas not covered by collaboration agreements, there is virtually a consensus among the social partners that arriving at a new agreement before the old one expires is a sensible course, states the report. A review of the agreements reached during 2001 shows that the parties achieved their goal of completing negotiations 'at the right time', with all agreements concluded either before the expiry of the old agreement or within three weeks afterwards.

In a few bargaining areas, industrial disputes broke out in 2001 in the form of short strikes of one to two days' duration, or overtime and recruitment bans. In about a dozen other areas, notice of industrial action was given but not acted upon.

Three-year pay agreements

Most of the national sectoral pay agreements concluded in the private sector in 2001 have a duration of 36 to 39 months. They all expire during the first half of 2004. In the central government sector, all agreements run for one year and expire on 31 March 2002. The social partners in this sector wished to complete their negotiations over a new supplementary pension agreement (which was signed in the late autumn of 2001 - SE0201112N) before they signed a new long-term pay agreement. Negotiations over a new agreement in the central government sector will thus start in spring 2002. In the local and city council sectors, 2001 saw the conclusion of three- and four-year agreements.

An estimated 900,000 employees in the private sector are covered by agreements signed at national sectoral level in 2001 that include some form of working time reduction. Following the norm set in the 1998 agreements, the working time reductions represented a cost of 0.5% of paybill per year. In the private sector, the total agreed wage increase, including the value of reduced working hours, amounts to 8%-9% for blue-collar workers over 2001-4 . In a number of 'low-wage' areas dominated by women, the negotiated increases were about one percentage point higher per year. This applies for instance to the retail trade, hotels and catering and the cleaning industry, where the total increase over three years is just over 11%. For all white-collar workers in the private sector, the average contractual wage increase is 6.9% for the whole three-year agreement period, plus a working time reduction worth 0.3% a year, which makes a total increase of 7.8%.

Little focus on gender pay equality

The Equal Opportunities Act was amended in 1 January 2001 (SE0102179N). Employers must now conduct an annual wage survey, investigating the pay and working conditions of all the employees in a certain workplace. The employer must analyse any differences between male and female workers performing the same work tasks, or tasks of equal value. The survey is a preventive measure, aimed at discovering, dealing with and preventing wage differences related to gender. The results of the wage survey should be presented in the form of an 'action plan for equal pay'. The employer should provide the necessary means and a timetable for the realisation of the plan. Employers must cooperate with employees in drawing up the wage survey and action plans. Trade unions must have the right of access to information about employees' wages held by the employer, in order to make this cooperation effective.

The revised Equal Opportunities Act is in many ways an instrument for the use by the local bargaining parties. It has not led to any changes of note in agreements at national sectoral level, the National Mediation Office states in its annual report. The National Mediation Office also would like to see more consistency in the official wage statistics. In their present form, these statistics do not reveal the extent to which unwarranted gender pay differentials exist.

The limited scope of the Equal Opportunities Act means that it cannot contribute to any overall shift in the relative wage pattern, the National Mediation Office states. This can only be achieved by according national bargaining areas which are dominated by women higher wage increases than others. This has occurred, the National Mediation Office points out, in the agreements signed by some female-dominated unions within the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen, LO), notably the Commercial Employees' Union (Handelsanställdas Förbund), the Hotel and Restaurant Workers' Union (Hotell och Restarang Facket) and the Municipal Workers' Union (Svenska Kommunalarbetareförbundet). The 2001 pay agreements signed by these unions gave the workers an average pay increase of about one percentage point more per year than other blue-collar workers (see above).

Commentary

The report from the National Mediation Office on the 2001 bargaining round and wage formation is its first such report since it was established in 2000, and indeed Sweden's first full report on a whole bargaining round. The report has on the whole been favourably received. LO says that it appreciates the report, while making some criticisms. There are some deficiencies, according to an LO press release. There is, for example, no account of developments within and across the different collective bargaining areas. It seems, LO claims, as if the National Mediation Office has submitted to the employers' long-standing opinion that the pay levels and rises within specific bargaining areas should not measured in the official wage statistics. The National Mediation Office responded, however, that drawing up this kind of statistics is not within its remit.

What is the opinion of the National Mediation Office regarding the Swedish bargaining round in 2001? At a press seminar in February 2002, the National Mediation Office's director-general, Anders Lindström, stated that the outcome of the bargaining round was satisfactory. However, wage increases are at the upper limit of the goal set by the Riksbank. There is little to indicate that productivity growth in Sweden will be more favourable than in other European Union Member States. Sweden cannot have higher wage rises than these countries do, in the long run. Future developments are worrying, as both wages and consumer prices increased in Sweden towards the end of 2001. (Annika Berg, Arbetslivsinstitutet