The social partners as actors in new labour law legislation in Sweden

Abstract

This article focuses on the importance of the social partners in new labour law regulation where there is a weak parliamentary majority. The prevailing view in Sweden is that labour law regulation must be modernised as both companies and employees need improved opportunities in order to be able to adapt to changing conditions in the labour market. A Government inquiry and negotiations between the social partners in the private sector focused on these issues. The social partners reached two agreements: a Principle Agreement, including demands that the state provide new labour law regulation; and a Basic Agreement, which is a collective agreement about security, transition and employment protection. The Swedish Government decided to modernise the Swedish Employment Protection Act (LAS) 1 in line with the social partners’ suggestions. The government proposal covers three important labour law areas: (1) changes to the Swedish Employment Protection Act; (2) new state-financed public support for skills development; and (3) a new public transition organisation to provide basic transition support for employees not covered by a collective agreement. This article shows that the social partners have great power over new legislation and can create stability in labour law regulation in Sweden for the future. The government’s proposal implies that new regulation has moved from the provision of employment protection depending on length of service to better transition conditions for employees, and that the state is to take financial responsibility for the lifelong learning of professionals.