On Friday, the trade unions IF Metall, the Union and Sweden's engineers submitted their demands to employers for this year's negotiations. They place demands on a 3 per cent increase in wages, measures against work injuries and increased equality. Employers' requirements look slightly different.
"Our keywords are competitiveness, flexibility and simplification," says Klas Wåhlberg, CEO of Teknikföretagen in Aktuellt.
"The recession is a reality"He believes that the requirements are far too high given the expectations of the economy in both Sweden and the rest of the world, and emphasizes that 70 to 90 percent of their member companies' business goes on exports.
- The recession is a reality in Germany. If Sweden is not competitive, production and development will move. Jobs are risked if we do not keep wages at a realistic level, he says.
"Does not make unrealistic demands"Marie Nilsson, chair of IF Metall says that the demands of the unions are reasonable.
- Of course, we would never make unrealistic or irresponsible demands. We see that Swedish industry is strong and profits are good. There is no reason for profits to increase more at the expense of wages, she says.
Despite the fact that the parties are far from each other today, they are both convinced that the negotiations will succeed.
- I am absolutely convinced that by the end of March we will have agreements concluded. Otherwise, we are prepared to seize the opportunities that exist, says Marie Nilsson.