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EUROPEAN REVIEW

ISSUE 16 - Page 5

Sweden: life gets tougher in the dot com age but social welfare still priority

In our occasional series on individual European countries we make a foray into Scandinavia. The European Review examines Sweden, the nation that is often thought of as a paragon of cradle to grave social welfare and trade unionism to see how it is adapting to the times we live in.

THE IMAGE OF SWEDEN is fairly well fixed in the British mind. Grim Nordic tales and saunas gave way to actresses and tennis players some time in the sixties and seventies to be replaced by pop stars, flat-pack furniture and, most recently, football managers or, in the words of the Daily Mail, 'We've sold our birthright down the fjord to a nation of seven million skiers and hammer throwers who spend half their life in the dark'. A slightly more serious stereotype which persists is of a society where everything is taken care of by the state and a country that comes top of the league in measures to protect both the environment and the welfare of its inhabitants. It is the kind of place that is always referred to by trade unionists and others seeking improvements in the British system.

Is this cliche any more real than the Daily Mail one ? Well, one new factor that must be taken into account is Sweden's prominence in the dot com revolution. Per head, Stockholm today has more internet businesses, more people online and more people working in the industry than any other European city. Unfortunately, as well as prosperity, this sector has brought another of its characteristics to the country: burn-out. In the U.K. we work the longest hours in Europe and stress is commonly complained of but in Sweden this is a new phenomenon. Over the last two years sick leave has doubled and the costs to the government and the health and social services have exploded.

Sweden's new high-tech companies usually do not belong to the public sector and do not have unions or statutory workers' rights. Professor Alexander Perski of the Karolinska Institute runs a burn-out clinic and says that Swedes have never had such pressure on them to work long hours and feel that they are losing control of their lives. Social Affairs Minister, Ingela Thalén, set up a working group of four Cabinet ministers to tackle burn-out. but she stresses that in the state sector there are nurses, doctors and teachers who are being affected by change as much as the 'driven' individuals in the dot com companies.

A view of the Stockholm waterfront, Social Affairs Minister, Ingela Thalén and burnout expert Professor Alexander Perski

How are trade unions reacting to these new circumstances ? One growing sector where there have been advances is that of call centres and telemarketing. A first general agreement between the Salaried Employees' Union (HTF) and the Swedish Service Employers' Association (TA) has layed down the rules for employment in the industry. The first principle is that companies should have a permanently employed workforce. If workers on fixed-term contracts have worked for at least 832 hours over a period of 12 months, they should be offered open-ended employment. Ordinary working time in the sector may not exceed an average of 40 hours a week. Instead of a fixed working time per day, company representatives can agree in consultation with each worker an individual working time schedule that suits both the company and the individual's family situation. Eric Hjerpe, an HTF official who was one of the agreement's negotiators, hopes that the agreement will neutralise unhealthy competition based on bad working conditions in the call-centre sector.

Another area where the Swedish unions are taking action is racism. The country has traditionally been an attractive destination for refugees and it is estimated that immigrants now form about 10% of the population. The Swedish TUC (LO) has started a programme whereby 60 special instructors will be appointed to educate union members, 21% of whom are first or second generation Swedes, with the aim of reducing discrimination and segregation. LO will also concentrate efforts on recruiting immigrant workers to participate in trade union work. Despite its progressive record on a lot of social and labour subjects there is one Swedish statistic which is depressingly familiar from less advanced societies: women earn on average 70% of male earnings.It seems that Sweden is not the workers' paradise that it is sometimes portrayed although with its high union density of 79% and high tax, high social spending philosophy it still provides much higher welfare standards than most other parts of Europe.

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