Why does LO fail to reach an agreement?

Weekly working hours and lifetime working hours – what is the difference? 

A general reduction in working hours usually means that normal working hours are reduced, for example from 40 to 35 hours per week, without reducing the monthly salary. This is what LO calls weekly working hours.

A reduction in working hours can also be achieved through more hours or days off, working time accounts, or pension savings. In that case, the regular workweek does not need to become shorter. LO calls this lifetime working hours.

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LO drops the demand for a shorter workweek

The collective bargaining round is approaching. These are the core demands of LO unions.

Why do LO unions not agree to jointly push for shorter weekly working hours?

Certain occupational groups have already reduced their working hours in their collective agreements. For example, many who work shifts in industry have shorter weekly working hours than nursing assistants and care assistants in elderly care. Reducing working hours via general regulations therefore affects different occupational groups to varying degrees.

There are also many agreements in industry where employees already have quite a few hours in their time banks. For example, weekly working hours under the collective agreement known as Teknikavtalet are down to about 38.3 hours per week if the hours set aside for working time reduction are included.

For example, Kommunal has not been able to reduce working hours as much as those who work in industry. Now Kommunal wants help from other LO unions to get there.

The risk is that groups that already have better conditions, such as some industrial workers, can more easily negotiate for more time off, while low-paid groups find it harder to prioritize a reduction in working hours over salary increases. This becomes unfair, argues Kommunal.

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Will there ever be shorter common weekly working hours for everyone?

We will have to wait and see. LO has now announced that they are not dropping the demand for reduced weekly working hours. But they will not put forward such demands in this collective bargaining round.

Instead, LO unions will be prepared to support unions that cannot get their demands for shorter annual or lifetime working hours accepted, for example by taking industrial action.

Who can reduce working time?

There are mainly two ways: through collective agreements between unions and employers or by politicians changing the law. The paths can also be combined.

Alternative 1: Politicians decide!

A normal work week in Sweden is 40 hours. It has been so since 1973, following a reduction in several steps from 48 hours after a political decision in 1957.

The advantage of a change in the law is that normal working time is reduced broadly across the labor market, even though working hours can still differ between industries depending on what is stipulated in collective agreements.

Reduced statutory working hours do not in themselves guarantee that salaries are maintained. Salaries are still negotiated between unions and employers.

Transport is the strongest advocate of legislation. Kommunal wants to see a general reduction in working time and remains open to both legislation and a central agreement. GS union and IF Metall want to try to solve the issue through negotiations first.

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Alternative 2: The unions negotiate (as now)

Instead of a new law on shorter working hours, the unions can negotiate.

Either by making the regular workweek shorter, for example by setting 35 hours as normal weekly working time for those working full-time. LO wanted to negotiate with Svenskt Näringsliv about reducing normal working hours in February but Svenskt Näringsliv said no to it. Now LO stands firm on the long-term goal, but will not have a joint demand for shorter normal working hours in the collective bargaining round of 2027.

Another way is to negotiate more hours off through collective agreements. This can happen by using part of the scope for wage increases for time off instead of a wage increase. The hours can, for example, be collected in a time bank that the employee can then take as time off. How it works is determined in each collective agreement.