News

As reported by Seko, on their website, on 17 March parliament decided to halt further sell-offs of state companies. UNI’s Swedish affiliate SEKO with approximately 50 000 members working in these companies see the decision as a victory for the members and for the Swedish people. SEKO has for years demanded an end to not very well thought out sell-off plans of state owned companies.

The union is running a campaign called "Swedish model 2.0" indicating a different direction than a market-liberal vision for our common assets. Investigations carried out by SEKO show that a large majority of the Swedish people are against further sell- offs. The parliament has taken the only correct decision. A continued state ownership means, contrary to government claims, that we secure the need for further major investments in welfare and infrastructure. Further sell-offs would have been a bad deal for Sweden, and that message has eventually got through to the politicians as well, "says SEKO's President Janne Rudén. Today's parliamentary decision means an end to the selling off of state companies such as SBAB (Swedish Housing Finance Corporation) a wholly state-owned company, Vattenfall (Energy company), Posten Norden (the PO) and TeliaSonera (Telecoms). The vast majority of workers in the latter three are SEKO members.

-“There is an obvious concern among SEKO's members due to the constant changes in industries where deregulation has a strong foothold. Today's decision should instead be able to pave the way for a long term and responsible management of state owned companies, "says Rudén



More information here:

http://www.seko.se/Aktuellt/Nyheter/2011/Mars/SEKO-En-seger-for-medlemmarna-svenska-folket-och-den-gemensamma-valfarden/