The Swedish Trade Union Confederation ( ; literally "The National Organisation in Sweden"), commonly referred to as LO (), is a

national trade union centre Organizers within trade unions have sought to increase the bargaining power of workers in regards to collective bargaining by acting in collaboration with other trade unions. Multi-union organizing can take place on an informal basis, or on a ...

, an

umbrella organisation An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and iden ...

for fourteen Swedish

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s that organise mainly "

blue-collar A blue-collar worker is a person who performs manual labor or skilled trades. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involve manufacturing, retail, warehousing, mining, carpentry, electrical work, custodia ...

" workers. The Confederation, which gathers around 1.5 million employees out of Sweden's 10 million people population, was founded in 1898 by blue-collar unions on the initiative of the 1897 Scandinavian Labour Congress and the

Swedish Social Democratic Party The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( , S or SAP), usually referred to as The Social Democrats ( ), is a social democratic political party in Sweden. The party is member of the Progressiv ...

, which almost exclusively was made up by trade unions. In 2019 union density of Swedish blue-collar workers was 60%, a decline by seventeen percentage points since 2006 when blue-collar union density was 77%. A strong contributing factor was the considerably raised fees to union unemployment funds in January 2007 made by the new centre-right government.

History

Organisation

The fourteen affiliates of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation span both the private and the

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, pu ...

. The member unions are fully independent, with the role of the Confederation limited to the co-ordination of wage bargaining, international activities, trade union education and other areas. Another important task is to promote the organisation's views to decision-makers and the general public. It also has representatives on the governing bodies of many government authorities. The Confederation is also responsible for research and signing labour market insurance schemes. The member unions, however, carry the responsibility for the administration of the unemployment insurance funds. While its Danish sister organisation, the

Danish Confederation of Trade Unions LO, The Danish Confederation of Trade Unions ( Danish: ''LO, Landsorganisationen i Danmark'' or simply ''LO'') was founded in 1898 and was an umbrella organisation (the largest of the three national trade union centers in Denmark) for 18 Danish ...

, cut its formal ties to the country's Social Democratic party in 1995, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation maintains a strong cooperation with the Social Democrats. Although the organisations are independent from each other, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation has a representative on the party's executive committee elected by the Party Congress. Also, both the Confederation and the member unions contribute substantial amounts of money to the party. Until 1987 there was a system of collective membership in the Social Democratic Party for members in the confederation, in which the local union could apply for membership in the Social Democratic Party, effectively enrolling all its members into the Social Democratic Party. (An individual could decline to be part of this collective membership.) In 1956 social democratic newspaper '' Stockholms-Tidningen'' was acquired by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation. Until recently, it owned 50.1% of the evening newspaper , the largest daily newspaper in Scandinavia (). As of 2012, the organisation owns 9% of the newspaper. The organisation bought in 1956 but sold off 49.9 percent to the Norwegian media company

Schibsted Schibsted ASA is an international media group. The company has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The ...

on 2 May 1996. The number of member unions has been reduced by mergers. Most recently the Forest and Wood Workers' Union and the Graphic Workers' Union merged into the single GS Union on 1 June 2009.

Affiliates

Current affiliates

Former affiliates

List of chairmen

* Fredrik Sterky, 1898–1900 * Herman Lindqvist, 1900–1920 * Arvid Thorberg, 1920–1930 *

Edvard Johanson Karl ''Edvard'' Johanson (1882 in Förlösa – 1936) was a Swedish trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to ...

, 1930–1936 * Albert Forslund, February–September 1936 * August Lindberg, 1936–1947 * Axel Strand, 1947–1956 * Arne Geijer, 1956–1973 * Gunnar Nilsson, 1973–1983 * Stig Malm, 1983–1993 * Bertil Jonsson, 1994–2000 * Wanja Lundby-Wedin, 2000—2012 * Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson, 2012–2020 * Susanna Gideonsson, 2020–2024 * Johan Lindholm, 2024–present

References

{{Authority control Labour movement in Sweden International Trade Union Confederation European Trade Union Confederation Swedish Social Democratic Party 1898 establishments in Sweden Trade unions established in 1898 Organizations based in Stockholm