Swedish_Municipal_Workers'_Union
Swedish Municipal Workers' Union
Trade union in Sweden
The Swedish Municipal Workers' Union (Swedish: Svenska Kommunalarbetareförbundet), is the largest trade union 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 in 2001. Its peak membership was 651,670 in 1991, and as of 2019 it stood at 500,560.[1][2]
The majority of members are employed by varying local level municipalities. Farm workers and co-operatives are also commonly found in this union. Some professions that this union represents are:
- Childcare employees
- Bus drivers
- Ambulance drivers
- Firefighters
- Elderly care workers
Kommunal was headed between 1996 and 2010 by general secretary Ylva Thörn. She was succeeded by Annelie Nordström. Nordström resigned from her post on 20 January 2016 after a corruption scandal involving the union's leadership was exposed.[3]
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 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 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 (ITF), International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Association (IUF) and Public Services International (PSI).
