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Young Swedish workers reject collective wage deals: study

Published: 4 Jun 09 08:18 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/19864/20090604/

Eight of ten young workers in Sweden favour negotiating their pay individually rather than having their wages set by a central agreement, a new study shows.

Only 10 percent of young Swedish workers are satisfied with the way in which their salaries are set, according to a recent study carried out by the Novus Opinion polling company on behalf of the Swedish Organization for Managers (Ledarna) and the Almega employers’ organization.

More than half of the 1,500 workers between the age of 25- and 30-years-old included in the study said that the setting of salaries ought to be more individualized than it is today.

Currently, six of ten respondents to the survey said they had the ability to influence their pay.

More than half of those polled think that improved performance or an increase in responsibility are valid reasons for a pay raise.

On the other hand, 38 percent believe that age is a weak justification for receiving a salary bump.

At the same time, interviews with 200 participants on both sides of the labour market reveal that support for a more individualized setting of salaries is nearly 100 percent among employers, while the figures among union groups is considerably lower.

White collar unions are most positive to the idea of negotiating salaries individually, with more than half supporting the idea.

Meanwhile, only three in ten respondents from within Sweden’s largest blue collar union group, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO), are positive toward individual salary negotiations rather than collective wage agreements.

TT/The Local (news@thelocal.se/08 656 6518)

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08:56 June 4, 2009 by BlackfDes
Be careful what you wish for!

Sure the individual should have some degree of flexibility for negotiating wages and conditions BUT there must be a number of compulsory conditions protected by law that cannot be negotiated away.

The most recent change of government in Australia was caused mostly by industrial relations policy. The former government touted "Workchoices" as the right policy direction for working people as it allowed total flexibility for the employee to negotiate with the employer. The Workchoices law was a massive set of legislation that your average worker would have little hope of understanding, so how could they successfully negotiate against a large corporation with smart lawers? So while workers had the advantage when the economy is booming but when things aren't so good the advantages quickly back swing to the employer and the benefits for the employee evaporate quite quickly and exploitation is inevitable.

continued ...
20:21 June 4, 2009 by Nemesis
In a recession, that would be insanity.
08:54 June 5, 2009 by ameribrit
Anytime 100% of employers agree on something it is for sure a bad thing for the individual. Just remember people that if you take the union out of the negotiation you open it up for the employer to shop around for the lowest price for the same job. It took a long time to get the collective bargaining agreement as a standard, to abandon it because you have "the grass is always greener" idea is just plain stupid. Do we need to reform the Union system? Hell yes! Just don't hand all he power back to employers who's sole job is to make the most profit with the least expenditure.
09:43 June 9, 2009 by Kevgio
BlackfDes...as an australian that has lived sometime in sweden i know where this is heading. a lot of people were john howard bashers for the introduction of workchoices but rightly and wrongly so. it is correct in saying that when times are good laws like workchoices benefit the employee and when recessions hit they benefit the employer. maybe so but in the grand scale of things when u are competing against the cheaper labour plaes like china, india, asia in general, u need to keep wages competitive in order to keep as many jobs at home as possible. plus if workers continue to hide behind unions in tough times like this companies are not getting full value from some workers that shoud be shown the door, underperformers and bludgers should not be carried by any company, union or institution.
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