The Swedish Food Workers' Union ( sv, Livsmedelsarbetareförbundet, Livs) is a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

representing workers in the food and drink industries in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The union was founded on 1 January 1922, when the Swedish Bakery and Confectionery Workers' Union merged with the Swedish Butchers' Union. Like both its predecessors, it affiliated to the

Swedish Trade Union Confederation The Swedish Trade Union Confederation ( sv, Landsorganisationen i Sverige ; literally "National Organisation in Sweden"), commonly referred to as LO (), is a national trade union centre, an umbrella organisation for fourteen Swedish trade unions ...

. On foundation, it had 9,372 members and by 1959 had grown to 38,053. The

Swedish Tobacco Industry Workers' Union The Swedish Tobacco Industry Workers' Union ( sv, Svenska Tobaksindustriarbetareförbundet, Tobaks) was a trade union representing workers involved in processing and selling tobacco in Sweden. The union was founded in Stockholm on 1 December 1889, ...

joined in 1964, followed by the Swedish Brewery Industry Workers' Union in 1965, and the dairy workers' section of the

Swedish Commercial Employees' Union The Swedish Commercial Employees' Union ( sv, Handelsanställdas Förbund, Handels), is Sweden's third-largest blue-collar union, with some 145,000 members, of whom around 25,000 are retired. Women make up over 70 percent of its membership. Th ...

in 1968. Its all-time peak membership was 53,131 in 1985, but this dropped to 22,877 by 2019. The Union launched a campaign called "Scandal" in December 2013 to highlight working conditions at Scan, Sweden's largest meat company. The campaign was successful and the Union signed an agreement with Scan.

Presidents

:1922: J. O. Ödlund :1923: John Rosenberg :1927: Hilding Molander :1948: Oscar Persson :1956: Anton Johansson :1966: Stig Ögersten :1969: Åke Berggren :1979: Lage Andréasson :1991: Kjell Varenblad :1996: Åke Södergren :2005: Hans-Olof Nilsson :2017: Eva Guovelin

References

Swedish Trade Union Confederation International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations Food processing trade unions Trade unions in Sweden 1922 establishments in Sweden Trade unions established in 1922 {{Sweden-org-stub