Redundancy and the Swedish Model in an International Context
G. Sebardt

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Employment redundancies all too often lead to labour market exits for individual workers and a consequent decline in the aggregate employment rate. Most mature economies have developed statutory or regulatory schemes, however unsatisfactory, in an attempt to mitigate these unwelcome effects. Although Sweden is unusual in that, it offers no financial protection specifically for redundant workers, events such as plant closures often tend to be resolved more peacefully there than in other industrialised countries. It is therefore worthwhile to examine the unique Swedish system of collective agreements on employment security that has evolved since the early 1970s. "Redundancy and the Swedish Model" is the first legal analysis of this remarkable support structure in Swedish labour law. Covering over thirty years of development and spanning all sectors of the labour market, the study explains and illuminates such aspects of the subject as the following: the normative structures of the agreements in relation to the Swedish legal framework; in-depth analyses of particular accords, especially the influential SN-PTK Agreement on Transition; the labour movement's attitude to technological change; the key concept of employability; and collective agreements as sources of law. For each of three major sectors of employment - private, state, and municipal - the author offers in-depth analysis of the kinds of contractual and organisational arrangements characteristic of Swedish employment security agreements, as well as of normative content (especially severance payment provisions). In addition, she provides a very valuable comparative perspective by describing two foreign models of redundancy regulation, the Japanese Employment Stabilization Fund system and the redundancy payment legislation of England and Wales. All who work with labour and labour market related issues will find prodigious matter here, both information and insight. For social partners everywhere, and for scholars in the field, this book offers access to a unique and little-documented dimension of labour relations, with alternative solutions for policy makers searching for ways to regulate employment redundancy.