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WORKING IN SWEDEN

Sweden’s tech workers launch push for union deal with Spotify

Three of Sweden's leading white-collar unions have sent a formal request to the Spotify music streaming service, calling on them to start negotiations over a collective agreement.

Published: 12 April 2023 16:34 CEST
Sweden's tech workers launch push for union deal with Spotify
Spotify's headquarters in Stockholm. Photo: Magnus Hjalmarson Neideman/SvD/TT

Engineers of Sweden, Unionen, and Akavia submitted the request to Spotify on Wednesday, April 12th, saying that they hoped to strike the first collective agreement with the company “as soon as possible”. 

“Spotify’s technical solutions have revolutionised how sound is consumed. Now it’s high time for the company to break new ground as an employer by signing a collective agreement,” Ulrika Lindstrand, president of Engineers of Sweden, said in a press statement. 

She said that the increased influence for employees and opportunities for collaboration with the relevant unions would be positive for the streaming service’s business, strengthening its ability to handle difficult business changes and take on challenges. 

“This is our second negotiation request in the tech industry in a short time. It is both a way to extend a hand and at the same time give a clear push in the right direction,” Lindstrand said. “More fast-growing technology companies need to take the step and join the Swedish model of employee participation. Now is the time.” 

Ulrika Lindstrand, chair of Engineers of Sweden. Photo: Engineers of Sweden

Under Sweden’s Co-Determination in the Workplace Act, or Lag om medbestämmande i arbetslivet (MBL), companies are required by law to start negotiations over a collective bargaining agreement as soon as possible after receiving a request. 

In the press release, the unions said that the agreement would apply only to the company’s employees in Sweden, both at its offices in Stockholm and in Gothenburg where a large proportion of the company’s Swedish engineers are based. 

The approach to Spotify comes two weeks after the same three unions submitted a request for collective bargaining to the payments company Klarna. Public formal negotiations have not yet begun with Klarna. 

Spotify in January announced plans to reduce its global workforce by about six percent, which Martin Linder, the chair Unionen, told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper had led to increased interest in a collective agreement among the company’s Swedish workforce. 

“We are convinced that the Swedish labour model is fundamentally a competitive advantage for Swedish companies and not a handicap,” he said. “We hope to be able to convince Spotify about that.”

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WORKING IN SWEDEN

Why you could land a job in Sweden but still leave within a year

As many as 70 percent of internationals want to stay in Sweden but only 40 percent end up doing so. What can be done to improve this figure?

Published: 8 May 2024 12:12 CEST
Why you could land a job in Sweden but still leave within a year

Almost ten years ago, Stockholm Akademiska Forum started its Dual Career Network, a network for the partners and spouses of top academics at Swedish universities to help them find work.

“The starting point was actually that one of our biggest universities had problems… they lost top scholars they had finally recruited to Sweden, and almost every time it was because the partner didn’t find a job in Stockholm,” Stockholm Akademiska Forum’s CEO, Maria Fogelström Kylberg, told The Local during a live recording of our Sweden in Focus podcast held as part of Talent Talks, an afternoon of discussions at the Stockholm Business Region offices on how to attract and retain foreign workers in Sweden.

“We thought ‘we’re in a good position representing 18 universities and the city to do something’, there’s strength in numbers,” she said.

To date, the forum has supported around 1,000 people, helped by a collaboration with Stockholm Business Region, which opened the network up to companies recruiting international staff.

In a new report, the forum highlighted the financial benefits for Swedish companies in hiring international talent, calling on Swedish companies to be more open to hiring foreign workers.

“There’s a lot of cost involved when you hire someone from abroad,” Fogelström Kylberg said. “They are often too focused on the person they are employing, but often for more senior roles, it’s a question of the whole family, it’s a family decision to move abroad.”

Companies invest a lot of money in employing someone, she said, but if their partner can’t find a job, they could leave within a year.

“Our numbers show that 88 percent of our members, these partners, have left an ongoing career and they are ready to start working tomorrow… but in Sweden, also for Swedes, it’s quite normal for it to take a year to get a new job,” she added.

“It’s a complete waste, because the person leaves and also Sweden loses money, because we could be getting income tax from two people,” she said.

It’s not just income tax which Sweden is missing out on, either. Accompanying family consume goods and services in Sweden, contributing towards the economy even if they are not working.

So-called third country students – students from non-Nordic, non-EU countries – often have particular issues with finding a job in order to stay in Sweden, as they only have a short amount of time to secure a position after their studies are complete, Fogelström Kylberg said.

“We’re doing a pilot project now starting in October, called the Stockholm Student Academy, built on the same basis as the Dual Career Network academy, for 250 students, master students from all universities together in a common programme with the same content to get to know Sweden, how the job market is organised, meeting in six different universities, extra social activities together. We need to do something as it’s a really big problem, they cannot stay but they want to. Students are an important resource.”

Laureline Vallée, who moved to Sweden alongside her partner and found a job after five months, describes dual career support as “really important”.

“It’s really challenging for the following partner,” she said. “So they also need to be integrated into society, and if not, the company has a high risk of losing their employee. And it means another move for the family.”

The Dual Career Network run by Stockholm Akademiska Forum is based in the capital, but there are other similar networks available for people based elsewhere in Sweden.

“There’s a similar one in Lund, they have a bigger region, as they have Malmö and Copenhagen too, and they have other challenges,” Fogelström Kylberg said.

“There are also a lot of other good initiatives, like Korta vägen or Yrkesdörren, which can really help. So the situation isn’t hopeless, it’s started and it has to grow, as we don’t want to lose more people.”

Listen to the full interview with Maria Fogelström Kylberg, Amanda Herzog and Laureline Vallée in The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

Interview by Paul O’Mahony, article by Becky Waterton

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