Negotiating alone or through the union? Swedish employees’ attitudes in 1997 and 2006

Abstract

It is said that people today are less interested in collective solutions such as union representation, mainly as a result of the processes of individualization that dilute collectivist orientations. On the basis of survey data carried out in Sweden in 1997 and 2006, the article studies attitudes towards two ways of negotiating with the employer -through the union or individually. The results show a minor decrease concerning the union option, while the willingness to negotiate individually has somewhat increased. However, the perceived need for the union was still high in 2006 -six out of 10 employees agreed with the statement. Another main conclusion is that employees' attitudes are clearly class-based, even though the class differences were somewhat smaller in 2006. Finally, young people are often seen as forerunners in adopting individualistic orientations. However, the results do not confirm that a collectivist attitude has been replaced by an individualistic leaning among younger employees.

Unsatisfactory Working Conditions and Voice: An Analysis Involving Employees in Sweden

“…For a long time, trade unions in Sweden have been strong both nationally and in workplaces. Other data in our survey indicate that a large majority of employees consider unions important for obtaining good deals with employers (Bengtsson & Berglund, forthcoming;Furåker & Berglund, 2003).…”

Outsourcing HR services: the role of human resource intermediaries

“…Furthermore, the Scandinavian labour markets are characterised by co‐operative, long‐term and consensus‐based relationships as well as by inter‐corporate networks between different actors in the labour market (Asheim, 2011). Other frequently mentioned features of these markets are the presence of relatively powerful labour unions, a high union density, and the resolution of conflicts being to a high degree institutionalised in the form of collective agreements between unions and employers (Bengtsson and Berglund, 2010). Taking this historical background and the contextual setting into account, it is not surprising that one common type of LMIs, for‐profit private work agencies, was not allowed in the Swedish labour market until 1993.…”

HR outsourcing in small and medium-sized enterprises

“…Finally, the importance of the national context should also be commented on in relation to this study. The work of HRIs takes place in a specific labour market regime (Elvander, 2002), characterised by discussions, conflict resolving, bargaining and collective agreements between unions and employers (Asheim, 2011;Bengtsson and Berglund, 2010). To the extent that these conditions (the Scandinavian Labour Market regime) will continue to be understood as valid and relevant, there are reasons to view this culture as an important foundation for the cooperation between HRIs and SMEs.…”

“…In regard to the context of this study, the emergence of different types of intermediary organisations can be understood from different characteristics of Scandinavian labour markets. The Swedish labour market is characterised by long-term and consensus-based relationships and inter-corporate networks between its different actors, the presence of relatively powerful labour unions, a high union density, and the resolution of conflicts in the form of collective agreements between unions and employers (Asheim, 2011;Bengtsson and Berglund, 2010). Nevertheless, taking this background into account, labour market intermediaries have today reached a high level of acceptance and are regarded as important actors in several areas of the Swedish labour market (Håkansson and Isidorsson, 2012).…”