Anchoring the Union Mandate - A Look at the Swedish Labour Law Model

Abstract

In today’s Europe, with ever closer ties as created by Union membership and law, as well as the Europeanization of human rights through the European Convention, a greater understanding of the intricacies of the national legal systems, particular in the field of labour law, is necessary in order to find more appropriate legal approaches. The structures created on the European level have placed pressure on the different existing labour law models. Pressure is also currently placed on the Labour unions by the economic situation, with unions needing to not only adapt to a changing economy, but also needing to reinvent themselves in order to attract and retain union members. One of the pivotal aspects of the role of unions is representing their members, and identifying and determining their mandate as received from the members. This article describes this process of “anchoring” the union mandate as within the Swedish Labour Law Model. First, a history of the Swedish labour law model is given, followed by a description of the internal workings of Swedish labour unions with respect to identifying and anchoring their mandate.