[WSF-Discuss] Feminism is part of the class struggle, by Kvinnopolitiskt forum
Reinhard HELMERS
reinhard.helmers at e-bostad.net
Wed Mar 18 18:51:03 UCT 2009
EUROPEAN UNION and DISCRIMINATION
in LABOUR RELATIONS
1 January 2001 the Swedish Government took
the Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers. At
this occasion, they arranged two conferences in
Sweden. That one in Malmö, "WORK LIFE 2000", 22 -
24 January 2001, was run by the Government agency
"National Institute for Working Life" and most of
the speaches were made by its officials. Mrs Anna
Diamantopoulou, the EU-Commissionary responsible
for Labour Relations participated in the meeting.
According to the news, the Swedish Government are
trying to introduce Swedish Labour Law into the
EU. Their intention is a good reason to review
essential parts of Swedish Labour Law:
According to the attached report, this
Government are systematically obstructing both
the binding Directives of this very Council of
Ministers concerning the forbidden discrimination
and the ruling Community Law, now for years.
While the ruling parties call themselves
'feminists' and run propaganda against
xenophobia, their Government are conducting
salary discrimination against women and employees
with foreign origin.
The EC-Commission connives at these violations of
the Labour Law of the European Union and
contrary to articles 155 and 169 of the EC-Treaty
prevents the Directives of the Council of
Ministers concerning the ban of discrimination
to become effective. Instead the EC-Commission
tries "off the records" to make the arbitrary
salary discrimination of the 'New Swedish Model'
binding the entire EU.
Obviously, the rights of all employees of the EU
("Equal pay for equal work") are in danger - see
also the provisions of the I.L.O.-Convention.
Consequently, the well established discrimination
in Swedish labour relations was a forbidden
subject at the conference in Malmö.
The Art of Legal Misinformation:
How the essential contradictions of Swedish Labour Law
to the Community Law of the European Union are covered up.
by Reinhard Helmers, Lecturer
When Sweden was going to join the EU, the Swedish
Labour Law had to be adjusted to the rules laid
down in the Treaty of Rome and several judgements
of the European Court of Justice concerning
labour relations. Contrary to the Labour Law of
continental Europe, Swedish Labour Law is not
based on the rights of the individual employee,
the working "citoyen", but presumes the minor
subjects without judicial capacity. Legal party
is almost entirely the narrow leadership of each
union.
Collective contracts or decisions to go on strike
are never legitimated by democratic decisions or
polls of the members. Only approximately 5 % of
the members participate in the elections of their
leadership, these often already being the
previous leaders and their close, favoured
friends. Criticism by individual members is
effectively suppressed at such meetings and the
union press is controlled by the leadership. On
the labour market, the unions possess a monopoly,
e.g. by controlling the unemployment funds.
Sweden has no unemployment insurance run by the
State.
In cases where individual employees are in
conflict with their employers, the support by the
union is dependant on the arbitrariness of its
leaders. They have signed the contracts; the
individual member is by procedural law
discriminated against. The Labour Court is
composed of union leaders and representatives of
the employers association - a typical corporative
construction. While the union leadership can
approach the Labour Court directly, the
unsupported member must first pass the District
Court and is charged high legal costs. Such
members - like unorganised employees - are from
the beginning stigmatised without a reasonable
chance of winning in court.
One of the monopolist unions, the syndicate of
academicians, SACO, denies its members even the
protection against notorious violations of Human
Rights by the State. Members of foreign origin
cannot expect support from a xenophobian
leadership. Employees who are not members of the
union are not even entitled to claim the
fulfilment of a contract.
Such conditions on the labour market and in the
unions favour the discrimination of minorities,
such as persons with foreign origin, women,
dissidents and political nonconformists. In
reality, a system of "closed shops" with
integrated discrimination rules the Swedish
labour market.
According to the judgement of 25 April 1996 of
the European Court of Human Rights
(Gustafsson/Sweden), the Swedish Government
admitted their severe violation of Community Law
namely that employees not being union members are
discriminated in Sweden. The Minister, Björn
Rosengren, a former white-collar union leader -
admitted publicly on 25 February 1999 that
persons merely with foreign names are
systematically discriminated against on the
labour market.
The systematic 'salary discrimination' against
employees with foreign origin was investigated
and proved by sociologist of Stockholm University
( See Carl le Grand & Ryszard Szulkin:
'Invandrarnas Löner i Sverige' , Arbetsmarknad &
Arbetsliv, Nr.2/1999, S.89 - 110). The Swedish
news agency TT reports 14/3 2000 from a
conference in Stockholm that the average salary
difference for immigrants is about 30 %.
The Swedish press (DN 11.8.97) mentioned an
OECD-report, according to which the employees in
Swedish Public Service enjoy the lowest
employment security of all 15 OECD-States. 85 %
of all Swedish public servants as opposed to 24
% of their Italian colleagues consider their
employment as insecure. This result reflects the
ruling arbitrariness in labour relations and the
paltriness of the unions as counterpart to the
State as employer.
When negotiating with the EU, the Swedish
Government, however, pretended that those legal
conditions against discrimination which are
stated by Community Law and the legal provisions
of the other Members States were already
granted by the unions and did not need to be
legislated in Sweden. However, this is obviously
not the case.
Simultaneously with the negotiations, the
Government introduced into their Public Service
the salary discrimination as a Labour Law
principle which they call fine-spoken an
"individual salary system". Public Service covers
about 40% of all employees. The salary
discrimination permits the superiors to fix
salaries of their employees on an arbitrary
basis. The reasons - often libellous - are kept
secret in order to prevent the employee from
contesting the discrimination. Its arbitrariness
makes discrimination versatile and covers not
only females and citizens of other EU-States.
This discrimination system is perfect: By
keeping their reasons for discrimination secret,
the Government and their authorities consider
themselves safe from any intervention from the
European Commission. '
The principle of both I.L.O. and the EU, 'Equal
pay for equal work', is no longer applied in
Sweden's Public Service. Because the union
leadership had agreed upon it without asking
their members, no defence against secret libel
and the consequent salary discrimination is
possible. Non-union members are, anyhow, denied
working contracts and negotiations on their
salary. Such a dictatorial lowering of salaries
is a disciplinary punishment without the employee
being heard. It is a means to enforce conformity
and surpress criticism.
Obviously for the purpose of creating acceptance
for this 'Swedish Model' , some publications were
issued. Three of the authors (Niklas Bruun,
Anders Kjellberg and Kerstin Ahlberg) are
affiliated with the Government agency, 'National
Institute of Working Live' or NIW. One of them,
Boel Flodgren, is the Government appointed
President of Lund University with dictatorial
competence. She was the pioneer in applying the
salary discrimination with secret reasons
against critical academic teachers as a
punishment just when her book was published:
Niklas Bruun, Boel Flodgren and Håkan Hydén: "THE
NORDIC LABOUR RELATIONS MODEL", Aldershot
Dartmouth, 1992.
Anders Kjellberg: in "CHANGING INDUSTRIAL
RELATIONS IN EUROPE", 2nd edition 1998, by
Anthony Ferner and Richard Hyman. Blackwell
Publishers Ltd, Oxford. ISBN 0-631-20551-9.
In a further publication, the members of this
Government agency advocate that these collective
labour contracts of the monopolistic unions with
their salary discrimination against both members
and unorganised employees be declared generally
binding EU Labour Law without the discriminated
persons having any judicial remedy to defend
themselves. ( Kerstin Ahlberg and Niklas Bruun:
"KOLLEKTIVAVTAL I EU", Stockholm 1996.)
The salary discrimination as the most
characteristic achievement of the new 'Swedish
Model' in labour relations is not mentioned in
one single word in these publications, which are
circulated among European experts in Labour Law.
This is no accident since the authors are
familiar with the new model. Further precautions
were taken to have the new 'Swedish Model' of
labour law accepted by the EU. The former Swedish
minister, Allan LARSSON, is responsible for the
introduction of salary discrimination as a
labour law principle.
The Government managed to get him into the
EU-Commission. Directly under Commissioner
Padraig FLYNN, is he the influential expert in
forming the EU's policy on Labour Law. He has
already both concealed and quashed without
investigation complaints against this violation
of Community Law by his Government's and by his
own invention. Mr. Larsson has been mentioned as
the successor to Padraig Flynn.
Salary discrimination obviously violates the
principles of equal pay and treatment for equal
work. (Art. 100 & 119 Treaty of Rome ).
Discrimination is forbidden. In order to give
effect to these provisions, the Council of
Ministers had issued a repeated number of
Directives. However, even the way in which
discrimination is conducted, its secret reasons
and the denial of remedies against it are in
conflict with these binding Directives.
(75/117/EEC,article10, 10 February 1975;
76/207/EEC, 79/7/EEC, 86/378/EEC, 86/613/EEC and
92/85/EEC). These bind any Government to provide
the discriminated employees with effective
judicial remedies. The judgement of the European
Court of Justice (case 248/83, Johnston/Chief
Constable, 15 MAY 1986, § 18) explains this
principle with reference to the European
Convention on Human Rights as the binding base of
Community Law.
By obstructing the implementation of these
Directives into national law, the Swedish
Government allowed themselves to introduce this
salary discrimination into their entire Public
Service. Victims remain mostly women and
employees of foreign origin (EU-citizens). It is
of course the legal duty of the Commission, in
accordance with Articles 155 and 169 EX OFFICIO
to control the implementation of the Directives
into national law. In his key-position, Mr Allan
LARSSON, the former responsible minister,
protected his Government from this compulsory
implementation from the very beginning.
Thus, the Swedish Government can just ignore the
Directives of the Council of Ministers for the
protection of employees against arbitrary
discrimination in labour relations. The
EC-Commission, 'Guardian of Community Law' ,
connives at this violation of Community Law. The
Commission itself therefore violates Articles 155
and 169 of the EEC-Treaty, according to which it
has to control the implementation of the
Directives into Swedish Labour Law. The
Commission acts as an accomplice.
As a consequence, none of the many victims of
discrimination has a chance of judicially
defending himself against discrimination. This
unlawful discrimination is safeguarded completely
by a 'denial of justice' and a 'denial of access
to court'. Although prohibited, this
discrimination cannot be contested judicially.
Salary discrimination has caused discontent and
envy instead of co-operation among the employees
throughout the entire Public Service. Lacking
co-operation has made the Swedish police
ineffective in fighting crime. The educational
crisis at universities and schools is further
accentuated. The obstruction of the equal pay
principle and the applicable parts of the
Community Law of the EU is by the Government and
its authorities considered as of such importance,
that they even jeopardise the medical care of the
citizens. In public hospitals, they pay newly
employed nurses up to 2000 SEK(155 £) a month
more than skilled nurses who had been employed
for years.
Here is a recent, significant example. The
Emergency Neurosurgery Department of the
University Hospital of Lund is of vital
importance for accident patients of Southern
Sweden. Even there, in February 1999, State
authorities insisted on salary discrimination
against those nurses who claimed 'equal pay for
equal work'. With regard to the working climate
and the care of the patients, even their
head-physician had claimed the abolition of
discrimination. However, the leadership of the
nurses' union had, against the will of their
members, agreed the discrimination. Therefore,
the nurses had no access to the Labour Court and
could only protest by resigning from their
employment, which 25 of the 45 employed did. Two
weeks later, a further 15 of 60 nurses at the
intensive section of the same University Hospital
followed because the politicians refused their
claims for 'equal pay for equal work'.
The nurses' protests are spreading to other
hospitals in the country. 50 nurses in
Skellefteå in Northern Sweden resigned recently.
In the meantime, this conflict has become typical
for all Swedish hospitals from Luleå in the North
to Ystad in the South. Patients are suffering
from lengthening queues for operations. Instead
of abolishing the salary discrimination, the
politicians engaged private nurse-agencies with
up to 3 times the costs of a nurse's salary.
This was made public in a documentary by the
Swedish TV on 27 September 1999: 'Revolt of the
nurses. The nurses' fight for higher salaries -
without support from their union'.
________
This salary discrimination is even made in
respect to age and years of service: Older
employees receive a lower salary than their
younger colleagues. This variant was recently
criticised by the representative of the union of
academicians SACO, Mr Gunnar Wetterberg
(Sydsvenskan 28 October 2000). The leadership of
SACO had from the beginning applauded the
introduction of the discrimination. Mr Wetterberg
is afraid that this age-related discrimination
might on the long run jeopardise the salary
discrimination defended by his union. During the
years 1994 - 1999 (since Sweden's joining the
EC!), the salaries of those up to 39 years old
were raised with 47,7 %, of those in the range
40- 65 years however with only 18,9 %.
The motive for this discrimination by the public
employer is obviously the estimation that older
employees certainly are more skilled and
experienced than their younger colleagues. But
the latter could easily be formed and
conditioned. Furthermore, the older colleagues
could scarcely withdraw themselves from
discrimination by changing the employer.
Long-lasting experience: - Lower salary !
An example for the arbitrary salary
discrimination: At a public medical centre two
doctors are working with the same duties.They are
payed monthly with 45 000: kr for the senior with
25 years professional experience respectively
with 60 000:- kr for a newly examined freshman
("Dagens Nyheter" 3.nov.2000).
What a pitty for the patient, the pupil, the
citizen, if he(she) is treated by a doctor, a
nurse , a teacher, a policeman or a judge whose
working moral has been destroyed by the arbitrary
salary discrimination !
While fairy-tales about Sweden's Labour Law are
circulated among the experts in Europe, the
'grey eminence' of the EU-Commission undermines
the EU's own provisions on Labour Law by its work
to have the new 'Swedish Model' accepted for the
entire EU.
The EU-Commission knows that the xenophobic
leadership of the unions together with the
Government cause the discrimination against women
and citizens of other EU-States.The EU-Commission
knows that the Swedish Government intentionally
obstruct the implementation of the Directives
against discrimination into Swedish Labour Law
(e.g.75/117/EEC,Art.10, 10. February 1975;
76/207/EEC, 79/7/EEC, 86/378/EEC, 86/613/EEC and
92/85/EEC).
Recently, by their decision 14 December 2000,
-fil no.U2000/2008/UH - , the Government decided
consequently the ruling Labour Law of the
European Union and the forbidden discrimination
to be without relevance to Sweden.
By approving the illegal discrimination, the
EC-Commission tries to adopt this new 'Swedish
Model' for the entire European Union. If the
Swedish Government are permitted to break
Community Law other Governments will follow.
Dated 13-04-2000, Fil No. 467/2000/ME, the
European Ombudsman, as the elected representative
of the EU-Parliament, declared that he has no
competence to reprimand the Commission for its
violation of Articles 155 and 168 because this is
"no maladministration but a political decision".
The Council of Ministers seems so far to connive
at the obstruction of its own, binding Directives
against discrimination.
This is a danger to all those European Labour
Unions, who defend civil rights and the principle
of 'equal pay for equal
work'.
The EU-bureaucracy in Brussels must be
controlled. The Commission itself punished its
official, van Buitenen, with salary
discrimination because he had disclosed the
corruption of the Commission to the elected
Parliament !
Reality overrules propaganda.
Both Government's Conferences in January at
Norrköping and Malmö had the purpose , to
advertise for the Swedish labour relations as a
model for the entire EU. Not-with-standing their
official discrimination, many talks were
dedicated to the equality of women. Their salary
discrimination was banned as a tpoic. This
reminds more of George Orwell's 'equality' than
of Swedish reality.
Just a week after the mentioned Government's
Conference in Malmö with the EU-Commissionary
Anna Diamantopoulou, the conference was overruled
by reality on the spot: The local newspaper
"Sydsvenskan" reports 5 February 2001 the salary
discrimination at the recently State-founded
Malmö College run by the State : "Women earn on
an average 4700 SEK (approx. 500 £) the month
less than men".
Recently, on 23 May 2001, the Labour Court as the
supreme judicial instance declared in its
precedent judgement No. 51-01 the EU principle of
"Equal pay for equal work" and the EU's ban on
discrimination as less relevant than undefined
'market forces' assumed to rule even the civil
service of the State. Unexpectedly, the syndicate
of academicians SACO, which supports the salary
discrimination in general, had sued the State on
behalf of ten socialworkers. Thus, the Labour
Court agreed upon the Government's salary
discrimination , violating Community Law of the
EU.
See also:
<http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/gewerkschaft/eurotarif/schweden3.html>
<http://www.labournet.de/internationales/schweden.html>
<http://domino1.edvg.co.at/domdb/oegb/briefe>
<http://www.lomb.cgil.it/rsuibm/fol.htm>
<http://fib.se/Swedish_Salary_Discrimination.pdf>
< http://attac.org/belgique/indexfr.html>
Actualités, Sweden: Salary dicrimination
<http://simap.eu.int/forumcgi/get/SIMAP/237.html>
"Swedish Labour Law and European Union":
CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, May 2000, p. 240 - 243
"The Art of Legal Misinformation":
The Lundian, International Magazine, Lund, Sept. 2000
"Arbeitsbeziehungen in Schweden - kein Modell für Europa.
"express" (Offenbach), Nr.4/2001
*) Susanne Fransson: "LÖNEDISKRIMINERING"(Diss.) Uppsala 2000, 530 p.
ISBN 91-7678-455-X with an English summary. In
details and with amply references the irregular
salary discrimination of women on the Swedish
labour market is described. However, the
arbitrary salary discrimination in the entire
Public Service not only touching women is not
subject of this dissertation. This discrimination
was introduced when Sweden joined the Community
Law system of the European Union. For this
discrimination the Government are directly
responsible both for having signed the EC-Treaty
and as the employer. The author shows that the
Swedish Labour Court obstructs the ruling
Community Law of the European Union.
--
--
Reinhard Helmers
Univ.-lektor a.D.
SE-224 65 LUND/Schweden
Tel.: Int.+ 46 46 127833
--
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