Dear Colleagues,
Please find below a summary on the collective bargaining round in the Swedish engineering industry from our correspondent Roger Nilsson.
Term: 3 years, from 1 April, 2004 until 31 March, 2007
Covering: 170 000 metalworkers within the engineering industry
The agreement term is 36 months from 1 April, 2004 until 31 March, 2007.
Both parties can give premature notice of termination of the last agreement year. This should be done no later than 30 November, 2005. Furthermore both parties can give 6 months premature notice of termination if there are changes in legislation or statutes covering the sick leave or working hours during the agreement term.
The wage increases will be made at certain intervals, and wage revision. The agreement wage intervals are locally decided accordingly: 1.7 per cent from 1 April, 2004, 1.9 per cent from 1 April, 2005 and 2 per cent from 1 April, 2006. In addition the wage revision is 0.6 per cent from 1 June, 2005 and 0.6 per cent from 1 June, 2006. The agreement term total wage increase is 6.8 per cent.
The agreement minimum wages, compensation for inconvenient working hours, vacation pay and holiday pay and different wage groups are revised from 1 April, 2004 with 2.3 per cent, 1 April, 2005 with 2.5 per cent and 1 April, 2006 with 2.5 per cent.
The minimum wage increase in the agreement during the agreement term is 675 SEK. The monthly wage increases should be at least 440 SEK from 1 June, 2005, and 235 SEK from 1 June, 2006.
The minimum vacation pay per day is increased with 40 SEK per year. New minimum vacation pay is 965 SEK from 1 April, 2004, from 1 April, 2005 it is 1 005 SEK and from 1 April, 2006 it is 1 045 SEK.
In total 0.5 per cent is put aside for working hour’s reduction from 1 April, 2006. This is equivalent to 10 minutes per week. A news in the agreement is that the time in a time bank can be withdrawn as paid leave, cash pay and/or retirement bonus.
The agreement right to parental leave increases to three months that can be used before the child is 18 months. The parental wage is 10 per cent of the monthly salary, as compensation to the parental leave.
The agreement § 3 Wage principles have been revised in the text. The principles now show that the wage differences should be well motivated and objective.
The agreement also stipulates a monthly wage as wage form. Consequently the agreement is changed so that the current, but revised, monthly wage enclosure is the main agreement. Current hours- and piecework wage agreement is enclosure to the agreement.
The new monthly wage agreement includes two levels of the agreements’ minimum wages. For an adult worker the monthly wage from 1 April, 2004 should be at least 13 811 SEK per month and for workers with qualified work the monthly wage should be at least 15 345 SEK per month.
Furthermore a special agreement has been signed on joint work about the following items:
Intensify the work on health and safety
Follow-up of the agreements wage principles
Possibilities for jointly made wage statistics
Develop the investigation and analysing work on wage differences between men and women.
In addition the parties will be making joint comments to the agreement.
Cheers
Jochen on behalf of EUCOBA