EXTENDED VOLUNTARY CO-OPERATION

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5299, 11 January 1947, Page 2

EXTENDED VOLUNTARY CO-OPERATION

BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND WORKERS I'NI SW1EIDEN After negoti'ations between the Federation of Swedish Trade Unions and fche- Swedish Employers' Association an agreement has recently been madie according to which so-called company eouncils are to be formed at every enterprise employing more than 25 workmen if the one or the other party wants that to be done. These councils, which will have-^a mixed composition of representatives of the emplojrers and the workers, are intended to be an organ for cooperation and information. Among their tasks will be to work for security in employment,- and for safety, soiundness and contentment. in work. They will also support professional ;raining conductedi within the various mterprises. •Wages and work-organisation, on be other hand, have on the whole been left outside the programme of the rouncil. The workmen's representatives in the council shall, however, >e free to put before the employers' iuggestions on technical and econonical questions. Before beingv adopted oy the one or the other brancb of trade, the scheme has to be accepted ' >y the labour and employers' organ:satioris of the trade in question. No lefinite agreement 'has been reaehed as to the collaboration' of the officials n these councils, but negotiations are ;oing on.

Ten years have elapsedi since anather voluntary agreement was made ietween the employers and workers' jrganisations in Sweden — an agreenent which has largely contributed o the favourable development of the abour market in Sweden during the >ast decade and which ihas not least •ee nan important factor in pramoting mity during' the years of war. It is he establishment of the joint Lahoui' /larket Committee foiunded on ^May 12, 1936. In this committee are being idisuas^d Wi|th perfect fralnkness a;nd lutual conlndence such questions of 'rinciple at long range' as are not uitable foi* being dealt with in the ourse of the ordinary negotiations. n partieular the commitee has dealt vith questions in regard to which Itate intervention might otherwise iave been called for. The committee has, among other hings, submitted proposals for more ffective metbods of negotiating beween the organisatioos, for new rules ;overning the giving of notice and ':ranting of leave, for the limitation f economic combative measures and he treatment of disputes affecting unctions of vital necessity to the ommunity.