The Swedish Municipal Workers' Union ( sv, Svenska Kommunalarbetareförbundet), is the largest

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 ...

in Sweden with 570 000 members as of 2005, it was created 1910. It is commonly referred to as ''Kommunal'' ("''Municipal''"). The union was founded in Stockholm on 23 January 1910, as a split from the Swedish Factory Workers' Union. Like its predecessor, it affiliated to the Swedish Trade Union Confederation. It initially had 1,218 members, but grew rapidly. The Swedish Tramwaymen's Union left in 1917, but rejoined the following year. The Swedish Firefighters' Union joined in 1918, then the Swedish Hospital Staff Union split away in 1923, rejoining in 1945. By this point, the union had 59,426 members. The Swedish Vergers' Union joined in 1946, then the State Hospital Personnel Union in 1967, the Swedish Chimney Sweeps' Union in 1981, and the

Swedish Agricultural Workers' Union The Swedish Agricultural Workers' Union ( sv, Svenska Lantarbetareförbundet, SLF) was a trade union representing farm workers in Sweden. The first Swedish Agricultural Workers' Union was established in 1908, with the merger of the Agricultural ...

in 2001. Its peak membership was 651,670 in 1991, and as of 2019 it stood at 500,560. The majority of members are employed by varying local level municipalities. Farm workers and

co-operatives A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

are also commonly found in this union. Some professions that this union represents are: *

Childcare Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

employees *

Bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

drivers *

Ambulance An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to medi ...

drivers * Firefighters * Elderly care workers Kommunal was headed between 1996 and 2010 by general secretary Ylva Thörn. She was succeeded by

Annelie Nordström Annelie Nordström, also ''Nordström Eriksson'', (born 12 July 1955) is a Swedish politician who acted as general secretary of the Swedish Municipal Workers' Union from 2010 to 2016. She started her career as a child caretaker in Halmstad and w ...

. Nordström resigned from her post on 20 January 2016 after a corruption scandal involving the union's leadership was exposed. As of 2005, 80% of the union's members are female. A third of its members are under 30 years of age. This is attributed to the representation of

welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

jobs such as child and elderly care workers. In recent history, this union has called two major strikes: * From 28 September to 20 October 1995 a strike was called that affected the sports industry workers in Sweden greatly. Major league soccer and

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

was not able to start until the issue was resolved. * Another strike was called in 2003, this time mainly affecting childcare workers. Kommunal is a member of

International Transport Workers' Federation The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) is a democratic global union federation of transport workers' trade unions, founded in 1896. In 2017 the ITF had 677 member organizations in 149 countries, representing a combined membership o ...

(ITF),

International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Association The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) is a global union federation of trade unions with members in a variety of industries, many of which relate to food processin ...

(IUF) and

Public Services International Public Services International (PSI) is the global union federation for workers in public services, including those who work in social services, health care, municipal services, central government and public utilities. , PSI has 700 affiliated ...

(PSI).

Chairs

:1910: Ludvig Nordgren :1933: Curt Larsson :1936: Thure Andersson :1937: Peter Söderberg :1948:

Gunnar Hallström Hans Gunnar Fredrik Hallström (5 January 1910 – 29 June 1989) was a Swedish trade unionist and politician. Hallström joined the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League in 1927, remaining active in it until 1936. He then became leader of t ...

:1973: Bengt Blomdahl :1978: Sigvard Marjasin :1988: Lillemor Arvidsson :1995: Sten Törnblom :1996:

Ylva Thörn Ylva Thörn (born 2 August 1954) is a Swedish politician and former trade unionist. Born in Åtvidaberg, Thörn became a nursing assistant in 1974, initially in Åtvidaberg and then in Linköping. She joined the Swedish Municipal Workers' Unio ...

:2010:

:2016:

Tobias Baudin Åke Sigurd Tobias Baudin (born 25 December 1974) is a Swedish Social Democratic politician and trade union leader who has served as Secretary-General of the Social Democratic Party since November 2021. He served as President of the Swedish Mun ...

:2021:

Malin Ragnegård Malin may refer to: Places * 4766 (1987 FF1) Malin, an asteroid, see List of minor planets: 4001–5000 * Rivière du Malin (Malin River), a tributary of Jacques-Cartier River, in Quebec, Canada * Malin, Homalin, Sagaing Region, Burma * Mali ...

Hallå där, Malin Ragnegård, ny ordförande i Kommunal
(in Swedish) 2021-11-06

References

{{Authority control Swedish Trade Union Confederation Municipal workers' trade unions Public Services International International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations International Transport Workers' Federation 1910 establishments in Sweden Trade unions established in 1910 Trade unions in Sweden