Swedish industry workers demand 4.2 percent pay rise
Sweden's industrial unions (IF Metall, Unionen, Sveriges Ingenjörer, GS and Livs, which represent for example people working in the metal, grocery, engineering and forestry industries) are demanding pay rises of 4.2 percent next year, as salary negotiations get under way.
LO, the influential umbrella organisation for 13 blue-collar unions in Sweden (with the exception of the Transport Union, which said it thought 4.2 percent was too low), also backs the demand.
This 4.2 percent is known as "the mark", or märket, the percentage pay rise demand which sets the base for negotiations with employers.
Sit-down talks between industrial unions and employees will begin properly next year, with a view to setting the final agreed "mark" in April.
Once all the central agreements have been made between the unions and the employer organisations, there will then be a second stage of negotiations between unions and individual employers, at which point salary rises generally increase a little further.
Swedish vocabulary: a salary – en lön
Sweden to get tougher on foreign criminals
Foreigners who have committed serious crimes or pose a security threat to Sweden, could have some of their residency rights revoked in situations where the law prohibits deportation – for example if they risk the death penalty or torture in their home country.
Currently, a person who cannot be deported is granted a one-year temporary residence permit, which comes with the right to work, a personal number, certain welfare insurances and the possibility of travelling within the EU. But a new government-commissioned inquiry suggests that instead of granting temporary residence permits, the deportation should be halted with a so-called "inhibition order".
It sounds like a technicality, but it means that the person's social insurances could be limited to the daily payouts that asylum seekers also receive (currently a maximum of 71 kronor a day for a single adult) and that their right to certain kinds of healthcare could be limited.
The person would also have to report to the Migration Agency or the police and could be banned from leaving their region. If the situation changes so that it is possible for them to return to their home country, the Migration Agency should be ready to deport them without delay.
Last year, the rules above could have been applied to around 340 people in Sweden, according to the Migration Agency.
If approved by parliament, the inquiry suggests the new law come into force in 2026.
Swedish vocabulary: to deport – att utvisa
International flights on the rise in Sweden
International travel via one of the ten airports operated by Swedavia in Sweden increased five percent on average in October, compared to the same month last year.
That includes Stockholm's Arlanda (where international travel increased seven percent), but not Copenhagen in Denmark, which is the main airport used by travellers in southern Sweden.
Air travel on the whole, however, only increased by one percent, cancelled out by a seven percent drop in domestic traffic.
Sweden is now at 83 percent of pre-pandemic levels of air travel, or 91 percent for Arlanda Airport.
Swedish vocabulary: to fly – att flyga
Kamala Harris vows to help Americans in Europe
Kamala Harris, the Democratic party candidate for the US presidency, on October 24th wrote a letter for American citizens living abroad vowing to help them with matters such as taxes and banking.
"I want to assure you that a Harris-Walz administration will take your concerns seriously – whether it's improving access to consular services, addressing the complex challenges you face with banking, taxation and financial services or ensuring equal treatment in immigration and citizenship processes," Harris wrote.
She accepted the foremost among these issues were the "complex challenges you face with banking, taxation, and financial services” in foreign countries.
That’s because taxes and limited access to banking services in foreign countries are among the top challenges US citizens are facing while living abroad.
As for former president and Republican candidate, Donald Trump – he made overtures to Americans living abroad in a YouTube video published on October 12th.
In the video, Trump promised to "take very good care of [Americans abroad]" and pushed them to register to vote as soon as possible. The former president also said that he would end double taxation, though he did not specify how he would do so.
Swedish vocabulary: taxes – skatter
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