| Storkonflikten 1980 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 International Workers' Day demonstration in Stockholm, 1 May 1980 | |||
| Date | 25 April 1980 – 12 May 1980 | ||
| Location | |||
| Methods | Strike action | ||
| Parties | |||
Storkonflikten 1980 (The Great Conflict of 1980) was a major labour dispute in Sweden in 1980. Lasting from 25 April to 12 May and involving almost a million workers, it was the largest labour dispute in Sweden since the 1909 Swedish general strike. [1] [2]
The Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Swedish : Landsorganisationen i Sverige; LO) is a major trade union umbrella organisation in Sweden, gathering together a significant number of the largest unions in the country. The Swedish Employers' Confederation (Swedish : Svenska Arbetsgivareföreningen, SAF) was a major employers' organization in Sweden. The Saltsjöbaden Agreement is a longstanding agreement between the LO and the SAF signed in the 1930s that set the standards for Swedish labour relations, particularly that the government should not interfere in collective bargaining negotiations.
Following the general election in September 1979, the right-wing parties in Sweden formed a government under Prime Minister Thorbjörn Fälldin, one of the few right-wing governments in Sweden since the 1930s. The new government announced a series of measures to tackle an economic crisis undergoing in Sweden, including significant tax reforms. The tax reforms proved controversial among Swedish workers, with the LO arguing that the burden of the reforms fell principally on workers instead of the wealthy. [3] Gunnar Nilsson, chair of the LO, argued that "trade unionists alone should not be expected to carry the total burden for Sweden's ailing economy." [4] The SAF, on the other hand, argued that the economic crisis was being fueled by excessively high wages and an excessively large public sector. [3]
On 27 February, the SAF made a formal proposition to the LO to extend the current, expiring collective bargaining agreement, despite the fact that it would result no pay rises for the workers. The LO rejected the proposal, instead proposing an agreement with wage increases of over 11% to match inflation. [3]
On 25 April, 14 000 workers walked off the job, beginning the strike. [5]
On 30 April, the Swedish Employers' Confederation announced that it would be locking out LO workers after the LO refused an offer of mediation. In response, the LO announced that all its unions would go on strike. As the month of May began, 100 000 workers were on strike and an additional 700 000 were locked out. [5]
The Stockholm Metro was forced to close for the first time in its history. [4] Hospitals stopped all surgeries but emergency ones. [6] [7] Sveriges Radio P1 and Sveriges Radio P2 stopped broadcasting entirely during the strike, while Sveriges Television only broadcast news. [3] A committee investigation the disappearance of Raoul Wallenberg was also forced to postpone its meetings during the conflict. [8]
On 5 May, the SAF announced that it intended to extend its lockout until at least 18 May. [9] In response, the conflict spread to Swedish oil refineries, with three of the four in the country shutting down due to strikes. [10]
On 10 May, the Swedish Transport Workers' Union announced that its workers would stop transporting oil, with the union's leader saying that they would "close Sweden." [11]
On 12 May, following a discussion with the Prime Minister, the SAF announced that they would be accepting the LO's latest offer, stating that they still objected to the terms but acceptance was in the national interest. [12]
The strike caused significant discussions in Sweden over the future of the Swedish labour relations model and the Saltsjöbaden Agreement. [13] [14]
A 1985 study that examined the impact of surgeons in Stockholm withholding elective surgeries during the strike found no increase in mortality due to the strike. [15]
The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the SwedishSocial Democratic Workers' Party, usually referred to as The Social Democrats, is a social democratic political party in Sweden. The party is member of the Progressive Alliance and the Party of European Socialists.
The Swedish Trade Union Confederation, commonly referred to as LO, is a national trade union centre, an umbrella organisation for fourteen Swedish trade unions that organise mainly "blue-collar" workers. The Confederation, which gathers around 1.5 million employees out of Sweden's 10 million people population, was founded in 1898 by blue-collar unions on the initiative of the 1897 Scandinavian Labour Congress and the Swedish Social Democratic Party, which almost exclusively was made up by trade unions. In 2019 union density of Swedish blue-collar workers was 60%, a decline by seventeen percentage points since 2006 when blue-collar union density was 77%. A strong contributing factor was the considerably raised fees to union unemployment funds in January 2007 made by the new centre-right government.
The Central Organisation of Swedish Workers is a Swedish syndicalist trade union federation. The SAC organises people from all occupations and industries in one single federation, including the unemployed, students, and the retired. The SAC also publishes the weekly newspaper Arbetaren, owns the publishing house Federativ and ran the unemployment fund Sveriges Arbetares Arbetslöshetskassa (SAAK).
Saltsjöbaden is a locality in Nacka Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 9,491 inhabitants in 2010. It is on the Baltic Sea coast, deep in the Stockholm Archipelago.
August Lindberg was a Swedish trade union organizer. He was a sawmill worker by profession, and belonged to the Swedish Saw Mill Industry Workers Union. Lindberg was chairman of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation from 1936 to 1947. He was also a member of the Swedish Social Democratic Party.
The labour movement in Sweden dates back to at least the 1850s, when Swedish workers initiated the organizing of previously spontaneous food riots into strikes, hence acting as an autonomous group.
The Syndicalist Workers' Federation was a Swedish anarcho-syndicalist trade union centre from 1928 to 1938.
The Swedish general strike of August 4 to September 6, 1909, was a general work stoppage by over 300,000 individuals all over Sweden. It was the first major conflict between the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, and the Swedish Employers Association. The losses to employers was estimated to be around 25 million Swedish kronor.
The Saltsjöbaden Agreement is a Swedish collective agreement signed between the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and the Swedish Employers Association on 20 December 1938, that became a model for other agreements. The rules on industrial action have come to be regarded almost as general legal principles of industrial conflicts between the labour market forces. The agreement cemented the Swedish social norm that the two sides shall conclude agreements without interference by government. The agreement is still in effect, with the latest changes being made in 2022.
The Women's Trade Union was a trade union in Sweden organizing female workers between 1902 and 1909. Its members were generally seamstresses, but the union also had a presence in other women-dominated sectors. In the year of its foundation, the union had 642 members. As of 1906, the union had 32 sections with a combined membership of 1,037.
Farm Workers Union of Central Sweden was a trade union for agricultural workers in Sweden. The organization was active between 1906 and 1908. Carl Albert Svedberg was the chairman of the Farm Workers Union of Central Sweden. As of September 1907 the union had around one hundred local sections. The membership of the Farm Workers Union of Central Sweden was to a large extent concentrated to certain large agricultural estates. The key areas of activities of the union were located around Mälaren. The organization also established its presence in Västergötland, Östergötland, Dalarna and Gästrikland.
The Swedish Saw Mill Industry Workers Union was a trade union of saw mill workers in Sweden. The union was founded in 1891, it was initially known as Svenska sågverks- och brädgårdsarbetareförbundet.
Karl-Petter "Kålle" Thorwaldsson is a Swedish union leader and politician who has served as Minister for Business, Industry and Innovation since November 2021. He was previously president of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation from 2012 to 2020.
Fredrik Olsen Aarnseth was a Norwegian-born Swedish politician and a member of the Swedish Social Democratic Party.
The Pyramid of Capitalist System is a common name of a 1911 American cartoon caricature critical of capitalism, copied from a Russian flyer of c. 1901. The graphic focus is on stratification by social class and economic inequality. The work has been described as "famous", "well-known and widely reproduced". A number of derivative works exist.
Arbetarhistoria is a quarterly magazine on labour history published by the Swedish Labour Movement Archives and Library. It was established in 1977 as Meddelande från Arbetarrörelsens arkiv och bibliotek and obtained its current name in 1984. It is targeted both at academics and the interested public. It is based in Huddinge.
Stig Nils Åke Malm was a Swedish trade unionist and politician. He was chairman of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation in 1983–1993.
Tesla, Inc. is an American electric car manufacturer which employs over 140,000 workers across its global operations as of January 2024, almost none of which are unionized. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has commented negatively on trade unions in relation to Tesla. Despite allegations of high injury rates, long hours, and below-industry pay, efforts to unionize the workforce have been largely unsuccessful. There are active labor disputes with Tesla in the United States, Germany and Sweden.
In 1980, a number of labour strikes, labour disputes, and other industrial actions occurred.