Nordic Countries Union Membership

By Jennie Sjögren

The high level of union membership in Sweden is due to a successful combination of union centralisation and decentralisation, Anders F Kjellberg shows.

International differences in terms of union membership are growing. Sweden, Finland and Denmark are still at the top with almost 80 percent of wage earners being members of a union. The USA and France have seen unionisation fall to a new low of around ten percent.

"There isn't a simple explanation behind the major international differences," says Anders F Kjellberg, who is researching union membership and labour market relations at the Swedish National Institute for Working Life in Norrköping.

His research shows that union centralisation alone and union decentralisation alone both deter high union membership.

"In the UK, collective agreements have largely disappeared, which means that the unions at local level have nothing to back them up. Without that kind of support, it's difficult to get your demands met, which is why we are seeing a major drop in union membership."

In the Netherlands and Austria, on the other hand, major centralisation has reduced the power of local clubs, resulting in many people questioning the benefit of union membership.

"In Sweden the employers also wanted to decentralise negotiations to local and individual level in the 1990s. But despite high unemployment, the unions' capacity for conflict remained intact. Instead the Industry Agreement between twelve employers' unions and all industrial members of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO), the Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations (SACO) and the Confederation of Professional Employees (TCO) achieved increased co-ordination.

At the same time, the Swedish unions are largely decentralised in the form of clubs, which in turn create a clear union presence in each workplace. This precise combination of decentralisation and centralisation is one explanation why unions have managed to remain an attractive option in Sweden. The role of the uinons is also boosted by the fact that union membership is also high among Swedish employers.

"In the USA practically no companies belong to employers' organisations and unions are forced to assert the right to join a union and to negotiate in each company separately."

Other factors contributing to the high level of union membership in Sweden are union-based unemployment benefits and the fact that white-collar workers in Sweden have their own unions and central organisations.

"In many countries manual workers and white-collar employees belong to the same unions," says Anders F Kjellberg.

(Working Life)