Together we are stronger

Organisational issues When LO representatives meet trade union activists and organisations from other countries, we often receive questions about the Swedish trade union-political cooperation. How does it work? What do you do? Could you give us some advice?


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The curiosity around this method and the results achieved are considerable. Many people are inspired by the possibilities provided by the cooperation and visualize the potential of trade union-political cooperation in their own societies. We are also aware of this potential both in terms of trade union-political cooperation in other countries and trade union-political cooperation over the borders at regional and global levels.

In this method manual there are, for example, suggestions what political parties and trade union organisations in other countries can learn from us and what can we learn from them.

With our long-lasting history of trade union political cooperation, we Swedes have indeed much experience that can be useful to our colleagues in other countries. But we also have a lot to learn from them when it comes to, for example, basic work and organising among the masses.

We cannot, however, merely export our Swedish model. Trade union-political work cannot be carried out according to a ready-made model from Sweden. Other countries' traditions and history must always be respected.

We must furthermore induce politicians to understand that cooperation with trade union organisations benefits their politics and political decisions in the long run.