The Swedish Ghent system and trade unions under pressure
Author
Summary, in English
In January 2007 the Swedish centre-right government in office since September 2006 raised considerably fees for union unemployment funds. Union membership (fund membership included) therefore suddenly became much more expensive. Trade unions lost 8% of their members over two years and union density fell by 6 percentage points (from 77% in 2006 to 71% in 2008), while unemployment funds were hit by a still larger decline. In 2008, fund fees were more closely linked to the rate of unemployment among the members of each fund. The result was a marked social polarisation of fund fees, in 2009 further sharpened by accelerating unemployment. In addition to describing the consequences of the government policy, this article discusses the ambition of the government to influence wage formation by remodelling the Swedish Ghent system.
Department/s
Publishing year
2009
Language
English
Pages
481-504
Publication/Series
Transfer - European Review of Labour and Research
Volume
15
Issue
3-4
Full text
- Available as PDF - 122 kB
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Links
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
European Trade Union Institute
Topic
- Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)
Keywords
- union unemployment funds
- Ghent system
- wage formation
- coverage of collective agreements
- LO
- trade union
- union density
- density of employers' associations
- TCO
- industrial relations
- Saco
Status
Published
Project
- Union Density in a Global Perspective
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1024-2589