Sweden: government, employers and unions agreed on a new type of agreement in case of crisis based on the German “kurzarbeit” (short-time working)

Learn the lessons from past crises.  The new system is called “korttidsarbete” (short-term working) and is directly inspired from the “krisavtal” (crisis agreements) negotiated in some manufacturing companies during the 2008 crisis.  Now, the social partners want a similar model that draws the lessons from the previous crisis as, in several instances, the agreements signed were not enough to avoid layoffs.  They also got their inspiration from Germany.  “In a crisis, businesses need to quickly relieve wage costs, they also need to keep their staff to get back to work as soon as the situation gets better.  Germany got back on its feet faster than we did after the 2008 crisis with their “kurzarbeit” system (editor’s note: short-time working).  This is why we now want to find a system where all players are responsible and where the State is also involved” explained Anders Ferbe, new leader of the IF Metall metalworkers’ union.  “The idea isn’t to use this system all the time or to slow down businesses’ competitiveness but manufacturing is everyone’s business so it is also important that the State be involved in and supportive of this system” explained Nikolas Hjert, negotiator for the Unionen private workers’ union.