4 ms·

Correction on that: any employee in Sweden is forbidden from striking if they are currently bound by a collective bargaining agreement. This means strikes are o

by Jolter 8y ago

Correction on that: any employee in Sweden is forbidden from striking if they are currently bound by a collective bargaining agreement. This means strikes are only legally recognized as strikes in the period between the expiry of an agreement, and the signing of the next one. This is generally every three years. In other words, political strikes are effectively banned i Sweden. I'm not aware of any exception to this rule for public servants but I could be wrong.

Jolter 8y ago
Partially correcting myself here: The Nordic countries all have certain restrictions on striking for some groups of public servants. The groups vary and the restrictions do, too. If I read my book correctly, Sweden forbids key officials (those who have certain positions of authority) from participating in solidarity strikes (strikes in support of others), unless those others are also public servants. https://books.google.se/books?id=IYx2GZdMA7AC&pg=PA37&lpg=PA37&dq=offentligt+anst%C3%A4llda+tj%C3%A4nstem%C3%A4n+inskr%C3%A4nkt+strejkr%C3%A4tt&source=bl&ots=pMLfsP48x7&sig=8BiJ-GIabkIl4YAW0nJh4hMGghs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjSwqqHu6HeAhWIpIsKHegSCx0Q6AEwAnoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=offentligt%20anst%C3%A4llda%20tj%C3%A4nstem%C3%A4n%20inskr%C3%A4nkt%20strejkr%C3%A4tt&f=false https://books.google.se/books?id=IYx2GZdMA7AC&pg=PA37&lpg=PA... The purpose of the law is to prevent certain tempting corrupt practices. As far as I know, this law has never been used, but I feel like it is sensible. Note: 99% of the time, like all Swedish workers, those officials have a binding collective bargaining agreement, so are forbidden from striking anyway. (I e if they go on strike, they may be legally fired.)
ahje 8y ago
Fair enough. I'll stick to talking about our own laws instead of the Swedish ones. :)
yeahforsureman 8y ago
> In other words, political strikes are effectively banned i Sweden. Not exactly true. What you're talking about is the industrial peace obligation inherent in each collective agreement. But this obligation is not applied where the strike has nothing to do with the collective agreement, i.e., where the objective of the industrial action is not covered by the collective agreement. This is precisely the case with political strikes. In this respect, the system is very similar to that in Finland. However, AFAIK, there are other limitations to purely political strikes, see the source below. At least this source [1] states that 'purely political strikes are, in most countries, at least in theory, prohibited, exceptions being Denmark (if short and for “reasonable cause”), Finland, Ireland, Italy and Norway.' Looking more carefully at that source you will find, however, that there is, in practice, a lot of room for strikes of varying political nature in many more EU states. [1] https://www.asi.is/media/7581/Strike_rules_in_the_EU27.pdf https://www.asi.is/media/7581/Strike_rules_in_the_EU27.pdf
jahaja 8y ago
You're not bound by the CBA if you're in another union that has no CBA with the company. Sadly, there are ongoing attempts to stop this.
- ahje 8y ago
  Ah, that's it -- I remember now. Basically you're free to go on strike unless you have agreed not to. If you do, it will simply be treated as a breach of the agreement and the other party will be able to sue for damages. So yeah, strikes are perfectly legal.

by Jolter 8y ago

Jolter 8y ago

Partially correcting myself here: The Nordic countries all have certain restrictions on striking for some groups of public servants. The groups vary and the restrictions do, too. If I read my book correctly, Sweden forbids key officials (those who have certain positions of authority) from participating in solidarity strikes (strikes in support of others), unless those others are also public servants. https://books.google.se/books?id=IYx2GZdMA7AC&pg=PA37&lpg=PA37&dq=offentligt+anst%C3%A4llda+tj%C3%A4nstem%C3%A4n+inskr%C3%A4nkt+strejkr%C3%A4tt&source=bl&ots=pMLfsP48x7&sig=8BiJ-GIabkIl4YAW0nJh4hMGghs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjSwqqHu6HeAhWIpIsKHegSCx0Q6AEwAnoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=offentligt%20anst%C3%A4llda%20tj%C3%A4nstem%C3%A4n%20inskr%C3%A4nkt%20strejkr%C3%A4tt&f=false https://books.google.se/books?id=IYx2GZdMA7AC&pg=PA37&lpg=PA... The purpose of the law is to prevent certain tempting corrupt practices. As far as I know, this law has never been used, but I feel like it is sensible. Note: 99% of the time, like all Swedish workers, those officials have a binding collective bargaining agreement, so are forbidden from striking anyway. (I e if they go on strike, they may be legally fired.)

ahje 8y ago

Fair enough. I'll stick to talking about our own laws instead of the Swedish ones. :)

yeahforsureman 8y ago

> In other words, political strikes are effectively banned i Sweden. Not exactly true. What you're talking about is the industrial peace obligation inherent in each collective agreement. But this obligation is not applied where the strike has nothing to do with the collective agreement, i.e., where the objective of the industrial action is not covered by the collective agreement. This is precisely the case with political strikes. In this respect, the system is very similar to that in Finland. However, AFAIK, there are other limitations to purely political strikes, see the source below. At least this source [1] states that 'purely political strikes are, in most countries, at least in theory, prohibited, exceptions being Denmark (if short and for “reasonable cause”), Finland, Ireland, Italy and Norway.' Looking more carefully at that source you will find, however, that there is, in practice, a lot of room for strikes of varying political nature in many more EU states. [1] https://www.asi.is/media/7581/Strike_rules_in_the_EU27.pdf https://www.asi.is/media/7581/Strike_rules_in_the_EU27.pdf

jahaja 8y ago

You're not bound by the CBA if you're in another union that has no CBA with the company. Sadly, there are ongoing attempts to stop this.

ahje 8y ago
Ah, that's it -- I remember now. Basically you're free to go on strike unless you have agreed not to. If you do, it will simply be treated as a breach of the agreement and the other party will be able to sue for damages. So yeah, strikes are perfectly legal.