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 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 unions that organise mainly " blue-collar" 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-d ...

, 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 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 Danis ...

, 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 media company Schibsted 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, 1898–1900 * Herman Lindqvist, 1900–1920 * Arvid Thorberg, 1920–1930 * Edvard Johanson, 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 C ...

, February–September 1936 * August Lindberg, 1936–1947 * Axel Strand, 1947–1956 * Arne Geijer, 1956–1973 * Gunnar Nilsson, 1973–1983 *

Stig Malm Stig Nils Åke Malm (4 March 1942 – 5 March 2021) was a Swedish trade unionist (Swedish Metalworkers' Union) and politician. He was chairman of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Swedish: ''Landsorganisationen i Sverige'', LO) in 1983–19 ...

, 1983–1993 *

Bertil Jonsson Bertil is a first name of Germanic origin most commonly found among Swedish men. The oldest recorded use is from the year 1396, but the name did not come into widespread use until the 19th century. People called Bertil include: * Carl Bertil Agne ...

, 1994–2000 *

Wanja Lundby-Wedin Wanja Elisabeth Lundby-Wedin (born 19 October 1952) was the President of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation ( sv, Landsorganisationen i Sverige or ''LO'') from 2000 to 2012. From May 2007 until May 2011, she was the President of the European T ...

, 2000—2012 *

Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson Karl-Petter "Kålle" Thorwaldsson (born 26 December 1964) is a Swedish union leader and politician who has served as Minister for Business, Industry and Innovation since November 2021. He was previously president of the Swedish Trade Union Confe ...

, 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