Swedish Municipal Workers' Union

The Swedish Municipal Workers' Union (Swedish: Svenska Kommunalarbetareförbundet), is the largest trade union in Sweden with 570 000 members as of 2005, it was created 1910. It is commonly referred to as Kommunal ("Municipal").

Kommunal
Full nameSwedish Municipal Workers' Union
Native nameSvenska Kommunalarbetareförbundet
Founded1910
Members510 000
AffiliationLO, ITF, IUF, PSI
Key peopleTobias Baudin, President
Office locationStockholm
Websitewww.kommunal.se

The majority of members are employed by varying local level municipalities. Farm workers and co-operatives are also commonly found in this union. Some professions that this union represents are:

Kommunal was headed between 1996 and 2010 by general secretary Ylva Thörn. She was succeeded by Annelie Nordström. Nordström resigned from her post on 20 January 2016 after a corruption scandal involving the union's leadership was exposed.[1]

As of 2005, 80% of the union's members are female. A third of its members are under 30 years of age. This is attributed to the representation of welfare jobs such as child and elderly care workers.

In recent history, this union has called two major strikes:

  • From 28 September to 20 October 1995 a strike was called that affected the sports industry workers in Sweden greatly. Major league soccer and ice hockey was not able to start until the issue was resolved.
  • Another strike was called in 2003, this time mainly affecting childcare workers.

Kommunal is a member of International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Association (IUF) and Public Services International (PSI).

Union flags outside the Kommunal headquarters

Chairs
  • 1910–1933 – Ludvig Nordgren
  • 1933–1936 – Curt Larsson
  • 1936–1937 – Thure Andersson
  • 1937–1948 – Peter Söderberg
  • 1948–1973 – Gunnar Hallström
  • 1973–1978 – Bengt Blomdahl
  • 1978–1988 – Sigvard Marjasin
  • 1988–1995 – Lillemor Arvidsson
  • 1995–1996 – Sten Törnblom
  • 1996–2010 – Ylva Thörn
  • 2010–2016 – Annelie Nordström
  • 2016–current – Tobias Baudin

References
  1. "Kommunals ordförande avgår: "Förlåt oss, förlåt mig"". www.dn.se (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
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