Sweden records lowest number of shooting deaths and injuries in years

Sweden is so far this year seeing the lowest number of shooting deaths and injuries since at least 2018.

“You should be careful talking about a turnaround, but things are looking up,” police chief Petra Lundh told the TT newswire.

According to June 19th figures, 17 people have been killed in shootings and 22 injured. 

“Our statistics go back to 2018 and we haven’t had figures this low at any point during that period,” said Lundh. “We’re doing something right,” she added, saying that police knew they had prevented at least 200 shootings and explosions since the start of 2023.

A total of 105 shootings were recorded in Sweden in the first five months of the year, down 30 percent on the same period last year.

They may however be picking up pace again, with 19 shootings in the first two weeks of June according to police statistics, and another 19 shootings since, according to news magazine Kvartal, although police warn it’s hard to predict what the summer is going to look like.

Swedish vocabulary: careful – försiktig

Swedish healthcare strike lifted after deal signed

A Swedish healthcare strike and overtime ban involving nurses, midwives, biomedical scientists and radiographers was lifted just before the weekend, after the union and employers agreed to a new bid put forward by mediators. 

The Swedish Association of Health Professionals said the agreement meant that those who currently work 40 hours including nightshifts will see their hours reduced to 36 hours, although it doesn’t include shorter days of 15 minutes for everyone, as they had called for.

Reducing working hours had been a major sticking point of the conflict.

“Our long-term goal of shortening our members’ working hours step by step has begun,” said chairperson Sineva Ribeiro in a statement.

“Even if the ban on overtime is now lifted, we urge our members to be careful with overtime. No one is obliged to sign up to SMS lists and be available to get asked to work overtime in their free time. All overtime must be ordered by a manager. You have the right to your free time, recovery and health,” she added, arguing the conflict had laid bare how employers systematically use overtime to plug scheduling gaps.

Swedish vocabulary: an agreement – ett avtal

Swedish Migration Agency won’t fight court over berry pickers

Sweden’s Migration Agency will not appeal a decision by the Migration Court to throw out the agency’s rejection of 1,278 seasonal work permits for berry pickers. 

Concerns have increasingly been raised in recent years of the exploitation of foreign berry pickers, who come to northern Sweden to pick berries during the summer season – often from countries far away such as Thailand – but often work hard in exchange for little money.

The Migration Agency therefore initially argued that based on the working conditions last year’s berry pickers experienced, the employers in question would not this year be able to provide working conditions in line with industry practice or collective bargaining agreements.

However, the court found that reasonable explanations had been presented by employers in the appeal.

The Migration Agency will now process the 1,278 permit applications again. 

A Migration Agency spokesperson told The Local last week that they couldn’t say whether or not there could be a knock-on effect on waiting times for other permits over the summer as a result.

Swedish vocabulary: a berry picker – en bärplockare

New laws and tax reliefs: What changes in Sweden in July 2024?

It’s the start of a new month, and Swedish laws often come into force at six month intervals in January or July, which means there are more changes than usual this month: everything from new laws to catch people who evade prosecution, to new tax reliefs.

The Local every month publishes at least one article rounding up the changes. Here’s the latest.

Swedish vocabulary: the start – början