Union bargaining benefits municipal workers in Sweden

Swedish white-collar union Vision has just negotiated 12 collective agreements with the KFS employers' organisation.

KFS represents public or private-owned companies providing services for municipal or county councils, with a total workforce of some 32,000 workers in almost 580 enterprises, large and small. The enterprises work in areas ranging from healthcare and schools to museums and property management.

The agreements are similar and run until 2020. They establish a framework for workers at local level to negotiate their pay, based on several factors including individual responsibilities and company performance. But the union is looking for increases of 2.2% this year and next and 2.3% in 2019. The agreements also include new provisions on part-time pensions and health and rehabilitation.

"We have reached the goals we wanted in the negotiations and are very pleased with the deals we have agreed," said negotiator Jan-Olov Olsson.

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