The Union must keep on its toes or we’ll lose confidence
Date: 2007-08-10
“The increase in migrant and seasonal workers from other countries means we are risking a division into first and second class crews on the labour market. We have to stop this,” says Karin Näsmark, a member of Kommunal’s board.
Karin works as a veterinary nurse and has a background in the farm workers union which a few years ago was absorbed by Kommunal, the Swedish Municipal Workers’ Union. She has lengthy experience in the work of trying to improve conditions for migrant workers in Swedish agriculture.
“Most are seasonally employed. Many work in Sweden for six months and then return to their family in their home country. Very many come back again for another seasonal job. It can be very difficult to live cut-off from your family year after year. When they’re working in Sweden, they try to save as much money as possible. They live extremely frugally in order to have enough money to take home with them.”
According to Karin, one of the Union’s important duties is to protect the collective agreement. What this agreement regulates forms a basis for the prevailing terms out on the labour market. Without collective agreements, labour conditions would end up in a downward spiral.
“Regardless of what work and which conditions we are talking about, there are always even poorer workers prepared to take the job at even lower wages and even worse working conditions. But if we open the door to that, the collective agreement would be wrecked.
Karin thinks there has been some displacement in the countries from which migrant workers in Sweden are coming. Poland is still a major dispatching country, but an increasing number of workers are coming from the Baltic and other Eastern European countries.
“We’re also seeing a domino effect. Workers are coming from Poland to Sweden. At the same time there is a labour shortage in Poland, so there they recruit from Byelorussia and the Ukraine. And in many Eastern European countries, the workforce is being hired from China.”
Last year, the Swedish authorities tightened the rules on foreign berry pickers. Anyone is allowed to enter Sweden as a tourist and pick and sell berries, as guaranteed by common law. However, when the work is organised and the berry pickers are paid by a Swedish company, then the berry picking must be taxed. As a reaction against the new Swedish regulations, Swedish companies have formed staffing companies in countries like Thailand, which then lease berry pickers to Sweden.
“It’s a way of trying to avoid the tax. We have taken action from the union side. One of the first issues we were compelled to address was which Swedish trade union would organise berry pickers. We’ve now settled upon this being Kommunal. We therefore require companies which use foreign staffing companies to recruit berry pickers for Sweden to sign an agreement with Kommunal. If we are unsuccessful with this, there is the risk that people will lose confidence in the Union. This issue also has a particular dimension for Kommunal; one in five members of the Union has a foreign background.
There is growing international collaboration on these issues. Karin also wants to benefit from knowledge from other countries.
“Union representatives in the Netherlands are talking about a growing trade in migrant workers and organised transportation of workers which can make a lot of money. According to some commentators, this trade is now more profitable than the drugs trade.
But new strategies are required to organise the vulnerable workers. Karin describes how unions in Great Britain can be a source of inspiration.
“One lesson is that we must get the migrant workers themselves to become union representatives. It’s important to support and train the ones who show an interest. If we are to create confidence, it is not good enough for white, middle-aged men who only speak Swedish to be organising Poles and Balts on Swedish farms,” concludes Karin.
MATS WINGBORG