EU & Labour Law
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Why minimum pay has become such a hot potato
Why do Finns trust that the proposed minimum wage directive will not harm their labour market model, while the Danes and Swedes have no faith in the European Commission’s assurances? And why is the debate so heated? There are several reasons.
4 minutes -
Sweden’s century-long relationship with the ILO
Sweden has had a relationship with the ILO for 100 years. Yet the country never ratified the labour organisation’s first convention. There have been tensions behind the scenes from time to time – like when the conventions have clashed with the Swedish model for collective agreements.
6 minutes -
East meets Nordics in EU road transport show-down
The Nordic countries are celebrating that the EU has finally approved rules aimed at fighting social dumping in the international road transport sector. Meanwhile, a number of low-pay countries in the east have asked the EU Court of Justice to annul them.
2 minutes -
Letter to the EU exposes cracks within European Trade Union Confederation
It is with regret that we need to inform the Commission that the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) reply regarding the consultation on European minimum wages is not representative for us. That is what ten trade union confederations from Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden write in a letter which highlights a historic crack in ETUC.
1 minute -
Nordic visions of more children and fewer suicides
The Nordic cooperation’s symbol is a swan. But black swans also symbolise the unexpected. This newsletter is about both birth and death. Assistant nurses play an important role in what happens between those two events.
2 minutes -
Labour Ministers invite Nicolas Schmit to meeting
Nordic governments are joining forces to explain the Nordic labour market model to EU lawmakers. The Labour Ministers have sent a letter to the new Commissioner Nicolas Schmit, inviting him to a meeting in Copenhagen in early April to discuss the Nordic countries’ chosen priorities.
4 minutes -
Sweden – more generous than what EU law demands
For many years, Swedish authorities considered it to be people’s right to take their so-called guaranteed pension (garantipension) with them if they moved abroad. Yet, a couple of years ago, the EU Court of Justice made it clear that Sweden was not at all obliged to pay the guaranteed pension to people living in other…
3 minutes -
Sweden to strengthen preventative work against discrimination
Many employers are not aware that they must work on active measures to promote equal rights and opportunities for their employees. So says the Swedish government, which has appointed a commissioner tasked with coming up with proposals for how to make the monitoring of the discrimination act more effective.
2 minutes -
The Nordics, the EU and the climate
New labour ministers have recently been appointed in three of the Nordic countries. In Finland and Denmark as a result of elections, in Sweden because the government nominated Ylva Johansson to a role as a new EU commissioner.
3 minutes -
Wages are not everything – national insurance costs important to posting of workers
A Lithuanian construction worker posted to Sweden does have the right to be paid according to the Swedish Byggavtalet – the collective agreement between the Swedish Construction Federation and the Swedish Building Workers’ Union.
4 minutes



