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Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees

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TCO
Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees
Tjänstemännens Centralorganisation
Founded1931
HeadquartersStockholm
Location
Members1.2 million (2018)[1]: 126 
Key people
Therese Svanström, President
AffiliationsITUC, ETUC, NFS
Websitewww.tco.se

The Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (Swedish: Tjänstemännens Centralorganisation, TCO, literary White-collar workers' Central Organisation) is a national trade union centre, the umbrella organisation for 12 trade unions in Sweden that organise professional and other qualified employees in both the private and the public sectors. The affiliated trade unions represent about 1.2 million employees. In 2018, the TCO affiliated unions made up 37% of all active trade union members in Sweden (up from 17% in 1950), making the confederation the second largest of Sweden's three major confederations.[2]: 128  The largest TCO affiliate is Unionen with 551,000 active members in 2018.[3]: 229  TCO is independent and not affiliated to any political party in Sweden.[4] TCO is an affiliate of the European Trade Union Confederation and Eurocadres.

History

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TCO is the product of two confederations that merged in 1944. The older organisation was the Confederation of Employees (Swedish: De Anställdas Centralorganisation or DACO) founded in 1931 by seven private sector white collar unions representing 20,000 workers.[3]: 417  The second organisation was the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (Swedish: Tjänstemännens Centralorganisation TCO) which was founded in January 1937 by eight public sector unions representing 38,000 workers.[3]: 429  The two confederations merged in 1944, adopting the name TCO, bringing together 40 trade unions representing 180,000.[3]: 392–3  After World War II membership in the affiliated unions grew rapidly to more than half a million by 1965.[3]: 389 

Affiliates and membership

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Headquarters of TCO, Linnégatan, Stockholm.

Union density in Sweden has been at one of the highest levels in the world, peaking around 85% in the mid-1980s, but since declining to around 70% in 2015. In general, the decline in union density in Sweden has been faster among blue-collar workers and slower among white-collar workers (TCO's base of membership). Between 1990 and 2015, the rate of unionisation of white-collar workers fell from 80.5% to 72%, but for blue-collar workers, the fall was from 82% to 63%.

Membership (31 December 2017)[3]: 413–4 
Active

Members

Women

(active)

Men

(active)

Students Retired Change

(2016 active members)

Unionen 538 845 235 892 302 953 46 406 63 888 Increase1 134
Teachers' Union 168 378 140 615 27 763 30 193 35 846 Decrease1 841
Vision 137 082 98 246 38 836 18 258 39 625 Increase3 330
Association of Health Professionals 91 272 82 254 9 018 10 513 12 534 Increase1 320
Union of Civil Servants 66 923 41 488 25 435 7 935 20 356 Decrease178
Financial Sector Union 26 365 16 047 10 318 2 841 3 760 Decrease710
Police Union 18 781 6 081 12 700 1 722 2 886 Decrease338
Forena 13 110 7 412 5 698 103 1 200 Decrease107
Union of Journalists 11 484 6 033 5 451 728 2 826 Decrease539
Union for Theatre, Artists and Media 6 322 3 570 2 752 222 1 878 Decrease8
Union of Civilian Employees in the Defence Forces 2 810 1 154 1 656 0 1 124 Decrease11
Swedish Union of Professional Musicians 1 394 606 788 46 336 Decrease20
TULL-KUST 1 794 707 1 087 3 1 793 Decrease82
Forest and Agricultural Service Union[a] 576 173 403 2 42 Decrease18
TOTAL 1 085 136 640 278 444 858 118 983 188 074 Increase1 932
59% 41% 8.5% 13.5% 0.2%

a The Forest and Agricultural Service Union merged with Unionen on 1 June 2019.

TCO Certified

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TCO owns the non-profit organisation TCO Development. TCO Development owns and develops the international sustainability certification TCO Certified. TCO Certified is a sustainability certification for IT products in offices and data centers worldwide. TCO Certified is available for office IT products: displays, notebooks, tablets, smartphones, desktops, all-in-one PCs, projectors, headsets, and data center products: network equipment, data storage products and servers. Certified products must meet comprehensive environmental and social criteria throughout the life cycle. For instance, factories where certified products are made must follow criteria on working hours, working environment and wages. Products must meet criteria for energy efficiency, ergonomic design and limited hazardous substance content.[5]

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ Anders Kjellberg (2020) Kollektivavtalens täckningsgrad samt organisationsgraden hos arbetsgivarförbund och fackförbund, Department of Sociology, Lund University. Studies in Social Policy, Industrial Relations, Working Life and Mobility. Research Reports 2020:1, Appendix 3 (in English) Table A; see also Anders Kjellberg (2017) The Membership Development of Swedish Trade Unions and Union Confederations Since the End of the Nineteenth Century (Studies in Social Policy, Industrial Relations, Working Life and Mobility). Research Reports 2017:2 (updated 2020). Lund: Department of Sociology, Lund University
  2. ^ Kjellberg, Anders (22 May 2019). "Kollektivavtalens täckningsgrad samt organisationsgraden hos arbetsgivarförbund och fackförbund" [Coverage of collective agreements and the level of organization of employers' associations and trade unions] (PDF) (in Swedish). Lund University. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Kjellberg, Anders (30 August 2019). "The Membership Development of Swedish Trade Unions and Union Confederations Since the End of the Nineteenth Century" (PDF). Lund University. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  4. ^ Sweden. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs. 1995. p. 9.
  5. ^ "Make the sustainable choice easy with TCO Certified". TCO Certified. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
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