The LO Congress in English

The world’s greatest jobs!
LO is fighting for a better working life for all people

The Congress is the ultimate decision-making body of LO and is held every four years. This Congress is the 26th Statutory LO Congress and it will take place in Stockholm, on May 31 – June 4.

The Congress decides the guidelines for the LO activities for the coming 4-year period. The documents to be discussed are motions submitted to Congress, the Congress report ‘LO and the affiliates in cooperation’, a proposition for a new Constitution as well as a proposition for political guidelines, presented by the Executive Council.

366 motions have been submitted to the LO Congress. Some of them, however, are identical in their contents, so the number of motions to be discussed is 271.

In addition, Congress elects the President, Vice Presidents as well as the members of the Executive Council.

The national unions affiliated to LO and their local branches have elected totally 300 delegates to Congress. The number of delegates of each union is in proportion to the membership figures: The Building Workers’ Union 18, The Electricians’ Workers’ Union 4, The Building Maintenance Workers’ Union 7, The Graphic Workers’ Union 4, The Commercial Workers’ Union 28, The Hotel and Restaurant Workers’ Union 10, IF Metall 65, The Municipal Workers’ Union 108, The Food Workers’ Union 7, The Musicians’ Workers’ Union 2, The Painting Workers’ Union 4, The Union of Service and Communication Employees 20, The Forrest and Wood Workers’ Union 8, The Transport Workers’ Union 13.

In addition to the delegates, Congress also includes the members of the Executive Council (15) and the members of the General Council (94). Totally, about 1100 are expected to be present during the Congress, including some 300 journalists and 70 national and 70 international guests.

National delegates at Congress – some figures
Out of the 300 delegates representing LO’s national affiliates:

124 are women (41 per cent)
176 are men (59 per cent)

The average age of women delegates: 45,6 years
The average age of male delegates: 46,5 years
The average age, all delegates: 46,1 years

Just over 8 per cent of the delegates - 25 in number - are 30 years of age or younger. The age of the youngest delegate is 23 and the eldest one is 64.

146 delegates take part in a LO Congress for the first time.

Together we create the world’s greatest jobs
Having a job is a must in order for all of us to be able to create the life that we want to have and to fulfill our dreams. LO wants to create more jobs – but also better jobs.

Low wages and poor conditions do not belong in the future labour market. Nobody should be forced to compete for jobs by reducing his or her demands. The labour market’s demands for flexibility should not destroy workers’ security. Nobody should get sick or die because of their jobs.

In the future labour market jobs must be secure and fulfilling. Wages must be decent, conditions fair, and work environment safe. Everyone should have influence on his or her working situation. Everybody should have the right to reasonable compensation in case of sickness or losing the job, and better possibilities of returning to working life. Security makes both people and society grow.

The world’s greatest jobs - getting fair wages
The trade union organizations will – through negotiations – achieve a fair wage distribution between different groups. With a joint wage policy, the LO affiliates can reach their wage policy objectives in terms of justice and equality.

The status of collective agreements must be reinforced in order to reduce the risk that individual workers are put against one another, competing with low wages in order to get a job. Increased low wages is favourable for productivity, because rationalisation, training and investments will be more profitable.

The world’s greatest jobs - we need a safe working environment everywhere
Good jobs must take advantage of everyone’s working capacity. It is too easy for employers and society to leave those who suffer from decreased working capacity behind. The responsibility for rehabilitation needs to be made more explicit. Measures by various actors to get people back to work must be made more effective and long-term sustainable. Wasting human resources must never be allowed.

Rehabilitation and prevention in the work environment are linked together. A large part of this work must be done in the workplace. It is important to identify early signs of ill-health.

The world’s greatest jobs - never allowing discrimination
A person’s position in the labour market is not only related to his or her knowledge and skills. It is also to a high degree linked with the person’s gender, ethnic background, sexual preferences and potential disability. The fact that people are discriminated against is not only a problem for those who are being discriminated against, but also a deathblow to the trade union pledge to secure that no wage-earners should be forced to accept poorer conditions than those laid down in collective agreements.

Discrimination is a significant reason to make some people feel forced to accept poorer conditions. Anti-discriminatory efforts support the ability of trade union organisations to maintain conditions laid down in collective agreements in the entire labour market.

The world’s greatest jobs - Trade union strength
The Swedish labour market model is based on collective agreements and a labour legislation which allow a great deal of adjustments on the local level through collective agreements. This model encourages flexibility and workers’ participation. The Swedish system creates solutions that are adaptable to the requirements of the activities and that the employees find legitimate.

The Swedish labour market model is however faced with a number of challenges. If the trade union organisations don’t succeed in concluding collective agreements in a majority of workplaces, this model will be called into question. How the unions succeed in concluding collective agreements will be decisive in order to make this model efficient and to achieve good and fair conditions in working life.

The world’s greatest jobs - contribute to a better environment
The climate issue is one of the really big questions for societies to resolve for the future. Most people agree about the fact that efforts are needed to stop global warming. Measures aimed at reducing the negative climate impacts are by no means an obstacle to employment; on the contrary, these measures can contribute to creating more and better jobs. It is important to reach, within one generation, the climate goals set up by the Swedish Parliament.

Sweden’s need for energy is largely due to our cold climate, the geographical length of the country and an extensive basic industry. A long-term sustainable energy supply is a prerequisite for employment and welfare.