Structure and functioning of the Swedish labour market: a study of its development in the light of formative discussion.

Abstract

The generaI background to this study is the interest in Sweden and Swedish economic theory and economic policy which was awakened in me during my undergraduate years of study in the University of Edinburgh. It was with a general interest in industrial affairs in that country that I originally went there in September, 1951, to study industrial conditions and policies * Soon, however, as my knowledge of the language improved , I found myself following the wages negotiations of December, 1951 - January, 1952 with some interest, particularly when 1 learned that it was proving possible for the Swedish Employers' Confederation and the Confederation of Swedish Trade Unions to arrive at a central and voluntary agreement for wages increases for 1952 which their member federations seemed willing to accept and follow. This seemed significant. ./as it the case, as with Lear, that:

I will do such things, - What they are yet I know not, - but they shall be The terror of the earth.

Or had the Swedes a comprehensive wages policy? .-/as full employment in a free society with free collective "bargaining being achieved ?

This thesis is in part an attempt to answer these questions. On the surface it would seem that order prevails on the Swedish labour market. It is not, however, the task of the impartial investigator to accept this surface impression, which one obtains from the information and propaganda put out by the interest groups in Sweden. The approach cannot be an "ail's well" one. Rather must we be concerned to dig down into the past and consider the background. IF order reigns, why is this the case? What historical developments lie behind the apparent order? In response to such questions, the emphasis is placed on historical development, and development through discussion of different solutions and unacceptable ends ant means. A free society excludes certain ends and means in its attempt to order industrial relations aright and acceptable ends and means are the product of development. A t the risk of being tedious I am concerned to show that the present system of labour relations in Sweden did not, like Topsy, simply grow, but that it is the product of empirical discussion and trial by battle,and that Swedish, industrial relations only stand where they do today because difficulties have had to be overcome and problems solved ae the labour market- organisations grew in power and strength. Thus it is an analysis in depth.

In the analysis emphasis will be placed on the structure of the organisations and their aims and goals, and on the manner in which they function both in their internal and external operations. The object is to present a comprehensive picture of the labour market, and in this respect the analysis is much wider than that usually presented by writers, Swedish and others, on labour market problems in that country. Some attention is devoted to a comparatively neglected group, the salaried employees, and to state and local authority spheres of activity, as well as to the more "popular" and well known private sector of the economy. Different forms of employment are discussed.

The aim throughout is to lead up through a comprehensive approach to the present nexus of relationships that find their central focus in the collective agreement and in the wages policies pursued by the different groups, No consistent attempt is made to draw international comparisons, because of the dynamism of the Swedish system itself. Industrial relations are never a matter of static analysis. It would of course be idle to deny that Sweden has seen a vacuum in these matters, that she has not assimilated ideas and impulses from abroad. Because of her comparative remoteness and little known language she has been a receiver rather than a transmitter of ideas, e.g., from Britain and, more particularly, from Germany, Denmark and Norway. No priority is claimed for Sweden in any of the successful arrangements she may have made, and no case is made out for trying to adapt her institutional arrangements to other countries and types of economy; for what emerges is that the peculiar Swedish contribution is adaptation of ideas to suit her own institutional and environmental circumstances.

Because of the language difficulty and the inaccessibility of sources to many readers it has been considered advisable to present the content of some debate® and problems in some detail, and to avoid the condensation of material that the interests of brevity would applaud but the requirements of clarity and scholarship would condemn.

The argument is conducted in the following sequence. Part. 1 deals with the organisations, their development, structure and functioning. In Chapter 1 the general economic background to the industrial society is set out. Chapter 11 deals with the growth and development oi the manual workers' trade union movement, and an appendix to this chapter considers the relations between the movement and the social democratic party in the twentieth century. Chapter 111 discusses the employers' organisations, the history and development of SAF and rival bodies, and the early emphasis within $AF on byelaws that ensured centralisation of control. Other employer groups are also discussed. In chapter IV the growth and significance of a trade union movement among salaried employees is discussed. The remaining chapters of dart 1, chapters V to Vll, then deal with specific problems of the manual workers' trade union movement. Chapter V discusses the structure of the federations within LO and the layers of organisation in the movement. Chapter VI analyses the constitutional problems of 10, and the solutions that have lean attempted in the centralisation of powers through bye law amendments, while in chapter Vll the trend to industrial trade unionism in the structure of the movement is traced.

In part II the re rations of the labour market organisations to the state are discussed in the light of legislative proposals made at various times and the discussion that has centred round thorn. The regulation in raw of associations is discussed in chapter Vlll. Chapter IX deals with the right of association and negotiation in general, while chapter X. discusses this problem in relation tc a certain group in society, "responsible officials". The growth of machinery for conciliation and private arbitration is then dealt with in chapter XI. The debate centring round the issue of compulsory arbitration for the purpose of enforcing collective agreements is considered in chapter Xll, and the culmination of' the debate in the two acts of 1928, on collective agreements and a Labour Court, is described in chapter Xlll. The part ends with a consideration in chapter XIV of the limitations on direct action and the position of neutral third parties in the event of labour disputes.

Part III shifts the emphasis from legislation to constructive co-o oration between the labour market parties, and is almost wholly concerned with an analysis in chapter XVI of the Basic Agreement of 1938 between LO and SAP and other peace agreements. This is preceded by a consideration in chapter XV of some of the forces at work which constituted the background to the Basic Agreement. Part IV follows on from this, in that it takes up problems that can be seen in a new light when the parties are prepared to co-operate in a constructive fashion in the labour market, namely employers' right and workers' security. Chapter XVII discusses an old hone of contention, "Paragraph 23" in the byelaws of SAP, while the most recent attempts at co-operation through the growth of a system of enterprise councils are considered under the heading of industrial democracy in chapter XVlll.

The final section, part V, analyses the system at work as it is reflected in the collective bargaining and wages policies of the organisations. Chapter XIX. discusses the content of employment agreements, methods of reaching and interpreting such agreements are taken up in chapter XX, while chapter XXI looks at the whole integrated system of relationships and organisations in the light of the wages policy problems that have "been the centre of discussion in Swedish .labour market circles since the era of full employment dawned. Some conclusions are then set out.