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 A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national trade union center, and many have more than one. In some regions, such a ...

, an

umbrella organisation An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and ofte ...

for fourteen

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

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 ...

s that organise mainly "

blue-collar A blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involving manufacturing, warehousing, mining, excavation, electricity generation and powe ...

" workers. The Confederation, which gathers in total about 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 The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( sv, Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti ; S/SAP), usually referred to as The Social Democrats ( sv, link=no, Socialdemokraterna ), is a social-de ...

, 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 (blue-collar union density in 2006: 77%). A strongly contributing factor was the considerably raised fees to union unemployment funds in January 2007 made by the new centre-right government.Anders Kjellberg and Christian Lyhne Ibsen (2016
"Attacks on union organizing: Reversible and irreversible changes to the Ghent-systems in Sweden and Denmark"
in Trine Pernille Larsen and Anna Ilsøe (eds.)(2016) ''Den Danske Model set udefra - komparative perspektiver på dansk arbejdsmarkedsregulering'', Copenhagen: Jurist- og Økonomforbundets Forlag, p. 292

Organisation

The fourteen affiliates of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation span both the private and the

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, inf ...

. The member unions are fully independent, with the role of the Confederation limited to the co-ordination of wage bargaining, international activities, trade union education and other areas. Another important task is to promote the organisation's views to decision-makers and the general public. It also has representatives on the governing bodies of many government authorities. The Confederation is also responsible for research and signing labour market insurance schemes. The member unions, however, carry the responsibility for the administration of the unemployment insurance funds. While its Danish sister organisation, the

Danish Confederation of Trade Unions LO, The Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (Danish: ''LO, Landsorganisationen i Danmark'' or simply ''LO'') was founded in 1898 and was an umbrella organisation (the largest of the three national trade union centers in Denmark) for 18 Danish ...

, cut its formal ties to the country's Social Democratic party in 1995, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation maintains a strong cooperation with the Social Democrats. Although the organisations are independent from each other, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation has a representative on the party’s executive committee elected by the Party Congress. Also, both the Confederation and the member unions contribute substantial amounts of money to the party. Until 1987 there was a system of collective membership in the Social Democratic Party for members in the confederation, in which the local union could apply for membership in the Social Democratic Party, effectively enrolling all its members into the Social Democratic Party. (An individual could decline to be part of this collective membership.) Until recently, The Swedish Trade Union Confederation owned 50.1% of the evening newspaper ''

Aftonbladet ''Aftonbladet'' (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lars Johan H ...

'', the largest daily newspaper in Scandinavia (). As of 2012, the organisation owns 9% of the newspaper. The organisation bought Aftonbladet in 1956 but sold off 49.9 percent to

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

media company

Schibsted Schibsted Media Group is an international media group. The company has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway, and is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The CEO is Kristin Skogen Lund. In 2019, Schibsted spun off the majority of their online marketp ...

on 2 May 1996. The number of member unions have been reduced by mergers. Most recently the Forest and Wood Workers' Union and the Graphic Workers' Union merged into the single union GS Union on 1 June 2009.

Affiliates

Current affiliates

Former affiliates

List of chairmen

Fredrik Sterky Fredrik Sterky (1860–1900) was an early Swedish Social Democratic Party, Social Democrat and trade union organizer in Sweden. Fredrik Sterky co-founded and was chairman of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation from 1898. He was also the founder ...

, 1898–1900 * Herman Lindqvist, 1900–1920 *

Arvid Thorberg Arvid Thorberg (born 1877, Kärrbo, d. 1930) was a Swedish trade union organizer. By profession he was a carpenter, and belonged to the Swedish Wood Workers' Union. He was the chairman of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation The Swedish Tra ...

, 1920–1930 *

Edvard Johanson Karl ''Edvard'' Johanson (1882 in Förlösa – 1936) was a Swedish trade union organizer. By profession he was a shoemaker, and belonged to the Swedish Shoe and Leather Workers' Union. He was the chairman of the Swedish Trade Union Confedera ...

, 1930–1936 *

Albert Forslund Albert Forslund (1881–1954) was a Swedish Social Democratic politician and trade union organizer. He belonged to the Swedish Railway Employees' Union. He became the chairman of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation The Swedish Trade Union ...

, February–September 1936 *

August Lindberg August Lindberg (6 September 1885, Älvkarleby, Uppsala County – 15 July 1966, Stockholm) was a Swedish trade union organizer. He was a sawmill worker by profession, and belonged to the Swedish Saw Mill Industry Workers Union ( Swedish: ''Sve ...

, 1936–1947 * Axel Strand, 1947–1956 *

Arne Geijer Arne Geijer (born 7 May 1910, in Söderala, Söderhamn Municipality, Hälsingland, died 27 January 1979 in Bromma, Stockholm) was a Swedish trade union organizer. Geijer left school when he was thirteen and began working in agriculture. He lat ...

, 1956–1973 *

Gunnar Nilsson Gunnar Axel Arvid Nilsson (20 November 1948 – 20 October 1978) was a Swedish racing driver. Before entering Formula One, he won the 1975 British Formula 3 Championship. Nilsson entered 32 Formula One Grand Prix races, qualifying for all of t ...

, 1973–1983 * Stig Malm, 1983–1993 * Bertil Jonsson, 1994–2000 * Wanja Lundby-Wedin, 2000—2012 * Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson, 2012–2020 * Susanna Gideonsson, 2020–present

References

{{Authority control Labour movement in Sweden International Trade Union Confederation European Trade Union Confederation Swedish Social Democratic Party 1898 establishments in Sweden Trade unions established in 1898 Organizations based in Stockholm