Altogether 129,413 members left LO in 2007, according to statistics published in the groups newspaper, LO-Tidningen.
Now demands are intensifying to create measures to stop the outflow of members.
At the union’s upcoming congress, the governing board plans to present a proposal that will make recruitment of new members a high priority.
The union’s membership losses aren’t concentrated in any particular group; the numbers are spread evenly between the sexes and across different age groups and there doesn’t appear to be a general explanation for the losses.
The largest drop is among those who are unemployed and studying, a group which currently doesn’t get much out of union membership, admits Begnt Hallberg who manages a recruiting project for the confederation.
Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union has been hit the hardest, losing a fifth of their members. Membership in the Swedish Municipal Workers’ Union has also dropped precipitously, having lost 3,594 members so far this year.
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