Insight
One in five construction workers in Sweden are posted
Sep 12, 2013 Over 18,000 workers were this spring posted by companies from other countries to work in Sweden, most of them in the construction industry. The number of posted workers in that industry was nearly as high as one fifth of all the working members of the Byggnads union – Sweden’s main union for construction workers. These are figures from the first comprehensive attempt at mapping the posted workers in Sweden.
Portrait
Christina Colclough is fascinated by the Nordic cooperation model
Sep 09, 2013 After living in the Nordic countries for nearly 30 years, British-Danish Christina Colclough, the new Secretary General at the Council of Nordic Trade Unions, NFS, is still fascinated by the Nordic welfare and labour market model. It fuels innovation, competitiveness and productivity, she says.
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Editorial: Job engagement is pure gold
Jun 19, 2013 How do you achieve job engagement and work commitment? In this summer edition of the Nordic Labour Journal our writers, experts and researchers explore what happens with job engagement when work pressure increases. Does job engagement really equal increased productivity? Is job engagement pure gold?
tema
Could increased job engagement improve productivity?
Jun 19, 2013 There seems to be an obvious link between job engagement and high productivity. Nordic politicians highlight the work environment as a competitive factor and hope it can lead to increased growth. But it’s not that simple. There are loose cannons and lost sheep among workers too.
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Experts: action needed to combat bad psychosocial work environments
Jun 19, 2013 A Nordic proposition to systematically measure businesses’ psychosocial work environments is getting expert backing. But the businesses must also play their part, and hiring a consultant is not always the best solution.
tema
Pressure on online journalists challenges job engagement
Jun 19, 2013 New technology puts more pressure on journalists to be ‘online’ and makes their job situation more diffuse and the journalists more vulnerable. Meanwhile support systems have not changed. If you want to create commitment and job engagement you need to strengthen work environment resources, say researchers.
News
Moving public services to fight social marginalisation
Jun 19, 2013 The Swedish Equality Ombudsman, DO, has been asked by the government to prepare a move from Stockholm city centre to the suburbs of Tensta/Rinkeby – the areas which only weeks ago were shaken by riots. The Stockholm city council has also just decided to move its education department with 400 staff there.
Portrait
Iceland’s Minister of Social Affairs: The importance of writing off debts
Jun 19, 2013 Eygló Harðardóttir is the Minister of Social Affairs in Iceland’s new government. The low number of female ministers and women in parliamentary committees has created heated debate. Most committees have an uneven gender distribution, which goes against the law. But the new minister is not particularly worried. She reckons the number of women will rise soon.
News
EU standardisation of services worries trade unions
Jun 19, 2013 Common EU standards are aiming to speed up cross-border trade in services. Just as long as this doesn’t mean introducing EU rules through the backdoor which would be in breach with member states’ labour law and collective agreements, say trade unions – whose concern is shared by the Swedish government.
News
OECD: Economic worries fuel immigration debate
Jun 19, 2013 The number of asylum seekers in the whole of the OECD topped 400,000 for the first time in eight years in 2011. Preliminary figures shows this trend carrying on in 2012. There are large differences within the Nordic region. In Sweden last year nearly twice as many people sought asylum as in Denmark, Finland and Norway combined.
Insight
Munch in the canteen – for Freia’s workers only the best was good enough
Jun 19, 2013 Edvard Munch’s iconic The Scream created art history when it was sold at Sotheby’s in New York in 2012 for €91,033,826. The Scream is also part of the Anniversary Exhibition Munch 150, because Munch didn’t paint just one, but often several pictures of the same motif. The anniversary also features the Freia Frieze, which Munch painted for the workers’ canteen at the Freia chocolate factory in Oslo.
In focus
Work engagement gives Nordic competitiveness
Jun 19, 2013 Global competition is challenging the Nordic welfare states, spurring the countries on to work together to strengthen competitiveness, growth and job creation. A Nordic report shows how good work environments can be a competitive factor. So the Nordic Labour Journal focuses on work engagement and job commitment and ask: can work engagement improve growth?
In focus
Nordic hunt for solutions to youth unemployment
May 23, 2013 26 good examples of measures that work and 600 people wanting to discuss youth unemployment. That was the impressive effort at the meeting of Nordic prime ministers and labour ministers in Stockholm on 16 May. The Nordic Labour Journal was there and this edition focuses on youth outside of the labour market.
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Editorial: What to do with the youth?
May 23, 2013 Make no mistake: youth unemployment is foremost in Nordic politicians’ minds. Especially NEETs, young people not in education, employment or training. They make up between five and ten percent of Nordic youths. But what will politicians do for them?
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