Old collective agreements not an option

Old collective agreements no alternative Anne-Marie Fransson, Director of IT&Telekomföretagen, and Jonas Milton, CEO of Almega, respond to the attack from Niklas Hjert, Unionen, that we would not live up to the intentions behind the latest collective agreement for IT and telecom companies (Di Debatt 19/4).

This agreement is groundbreaking in many ways.

Instead of the central parties agreeing on a percentage for wage increases, the responsibility is shifted to the local level, and the wage increase is based on the companies' conditions, individual performance and contribution to the company's development.

The responsibility for ensuring that the new modern agreements with local wage formation work rests heavily on the social partners. For Almega's part, considerable resources are being allocated to ensure that companies have good processes for wage setting. Processes that lead to wage increases and that are based on the company's development and competitiveness and the individual employee's performance.

The IT industry is globally competitive, with increasing competition from low-cost countries. It is also the sector where, according to the Union's own statistics, its members have the highest average salaries. This is because the industry is successful, has a high level of innovation and well-trained and skilled employees.

The IT&Telecom companies' collective agreement applies to around 70,000 employees in 800 companies with varying activities and conditions. In the vast majority of companies, local wage setting works very well, to the satisfaction of companies, employees and local trade unions.

Sweden has a long and heavy tradition of centrally determined wage increases over which companies have had little influence. These "old" agreements are working less and less well in the new knowledge-intensive service industries. Nor do the well-educated employees in these companies want a return to the agreements of the past.

As we, together with Unionen, seek new ways for the collective agreements of the future, it is natural that we encounter new problems that require new solutions. We as parties have to find solutions to these together.

However, going backwards is not an option. We cannot go back to a model that does not take into account the conditions and individual performance of each company. As the bearers of collective agreements, we as employers and the trade unions have a responsibility to modernize collective agreements so that they become a tool for development, not a brake.

Anne-Marie Fransson, Director, IT&Telecom Confederation

Jonas Milton, CEO, Almega