The Co-Determination Act covers all questions concerning the relation between employer and employees' organisations in the entire labour market. Both the employer and employee concepts are to be given a wide interpretation.
Right of association
The Co-determination Act contains provisions on the right of association covering:
- The right to belong to an employer or employee organisation.
- The right to derive benefit from membership of such an organisation.
- The right to work to establish a trade union organisation.
- The right of association is inviolable. This means that an employee may not be prevented from applying for membership of a trade union organisation, utilising this membership or working to establish such an organisation.
Right of negotiation
Under The Co-determination Act all important matters concerning the relation between employer and employees' organisations shall be determined by negotiation. The employee is always represented by the trade union organisation that has the right to negotiate. In the case of the employer, the right of negotiation may be exercised either by an employers’ organisation or by the individual employer.
Duty of negotiation
The employer is obliged to call negotiations with the trade union concerning all important measures or changes, before a decision has been made. This is called the primary duty of negotiation and always applies to decisions concerning the scope and form of the operations, such as expansion, reorganisation, closedown or cutbacks in operations and transfer of a business.
Other examples of questions covered by the primary duty of negotiation are decisions concerning the organisation of the work, recruitment policy, disposition of working hours and planning and equipping a workplace.
If the employer does not fulfil his primary duty of negotiation the trade union has the right to demand negotiations and claim damages.
Information
The employer is obliged to supply the trade union organisation, on his own initiative, with continuous information concerning the company’s financial position, production and personnel policy. In addition the employer is obliged to supply the trade unions concerned with all the information they need to safeguard their members’ common interests in relation to the employer.
Furthermore, either party who in negotiations refers to a written document is obliged to supply the other party with a copy (obligation to produce a document as proof).
Participation agreements
Before The Co-determination Act came into force in 1977 the employer had the sole right to decide on matters such as employment/dismissal, direction and distribution of work and generally how the operations at the company were to be run.
Through The Co-determination Act the employees’ organisations gained the right to conclude collective agreements with their opposite parties, the employers, in these areas. These agreements are called participation agreements. The purpose of co-determination agreements includes creating varied and fulfilling forms of work and a meaningful job content. The agreements also usually include regulations concerning skills development.
Priority right of interpretation
Priority right of interpretation means that one party’s standpoint applies in the event of a dispute until the dispute has been settled by a court.
In general it is the employer’s interpretation that applies in the first hand. The trade union organisations have, however, through The Co-determination Act been given some priority rights of interpretation in pay disputes and disputes concerning obligation to work.
Right of veto
Before an employer subcontracts work, he is obliged to negotiate with the trade union organisations concerned. The trade union has the right of veto if it believes it would contravene any law or agreement to use a subcontractor.
Collective agreements
A collective agreement is a written agreement between a trade union and an employer organisation or an individual employer. The collective agreement can cover a group, i.e. a collective of employees or one individual employee. The collective agreement applies to all employees at the workplace in question, that is, not only the trade union members. The agreement may be local and refer only to one company or to a whole industry, a national agreement. Only trade union organisations are entitled to conclude collective agreements, not individual employees.
The Co-determination Act also contains provisions that cover the validity of the collective agreement when a business is transferred. If the new owner is not already party to an applicable collective agreement, the agreement in force for the company in question will also be applied in the new company. As a rule collective agreements have the force of law.
Obligation to maintain industrial peace
The obligation to keep industrial peace applies during the term of the collective agreement. The peace obligation means that industrial action may not be taken for the purpose of changing the agreement or to achieve benefits that are not included in the agreement.
During negotiations for a new agreement industrial action is, however, allowed. In order for industrial action to be regarded as permissible it must be duly approved by a trade union organisation.
Notification and mediation
A party intending to take industrial action is obliged to notify both the other party and the Swedish National Conciliators’ Office at least seven days in advance. The National Conciliators’ Office will then appoint a conciliation officer with the task of mediating between the parties.
In the event of an industrial dispute of major significance, the government may appoint a special conciliation officer or a Conciliation Commission.
Damages
Contravention of The Co-determination Act may lead to liability to pay damages. Conflicts that cannot be settled by negotiation are to be referred to the Labour Court.
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