Since 1997, a number of trade unions and employers‘ organisations have signed cooperation and negotiation agreements under the Industrial Cooperation Agreement (Industrins samarbetsavtal och förhandlingsavtal). This includes agreeing on negotiation timetables, rules for the appointment of mediators and provisions to end negotiations. One of the objectives of these procedures is for both parties to reach an agreement before the expiry of the old agreement. In the 2012 round of negotiations, 64% of private sector employees and 73% of public sector employees were covered by agreements reached before the end of the old one or within three weeks.3 The key level of collective bargaining in Sweden is that of the sector, although more than 90% of employees set part of their salary through negotiations at local level. and 8% set their full remuneration on the spot. The overall coverage rate of collective agreements is high — estimated at 90%. In addition to wages and working time, most elements of working life can be covered by collective bargaining. Some, such as the reconstitution of sickness benefits, accident compensation or the level of pension that goes beyond public care, both in the case of disability and old age, are dealt with by negotiations at sector level. However, negotiations at local level may cover a number of issues such as training or the introduction of new technologies (see section on representation in the workplace). Yes.
As a general rule, a collective agreement applies only to the contracting parties. However, some collective agreements generally applied to all workers in a given sector. Collective agreements of general application contain provisions such as the minimum wage and limitations on working time. The extent to which sectoral agreements set wages at the local level varies widely. At one end of the spectrum, there are those for whom the national agreement does not set a wage increase, but leaves them entirely to local negotiations without an amount determined at the national level. On the other hand, there are those for whom the national agreement sets a common increase for all workers. Overall, in its report on the 2012 negotiations, the National Mediation Office estimated that 11% of employees were affected by agreements that leave wage setting to entirely local negotiations and 11% by agreements that set a national increase without local differences2. 2 There are three ways of binding an employer in Finland: the current situation is as follows: that wage negotiations at national level have been practically perceptible in the private sector and that the Swedish Business Association plays no role in wage negotiations.
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