Lex Laval

Industrial action during posting

After a verdict in the EU Court of Law, the so-called Laval verdict, a number of changes have been made in the provisions concerning posting. Since 15 April 2010 the following are valid:

• union organisations now have other possibilities of using industrial action against employers responsible for posting.
• the terms valid in the case of posting must be handed in to the Work Environment Authority by the parties to a collective agreement in the said collective agreement.

The new paragraph 5 a in the Foreign Posting of Employees Act was introduced after the Laval verdict. It describes situations in which it is permitted to use industrial action against an employer responsible for posting.

Organisations can use industrial action against an employer in order to achieve a collective agreement for the posted employees. In order to be able to use industrial action the issue must concern

• minimum terms in a Swedish central branch agreement (an agreement that is valid generally in the whole country for a particular branch)
• the terms valid for leave, working hours, pay and similar
• the terms in the collective agreement being better than those already in force  according to Swedish law.

An employees’ organisation may not use industrial action to achieve a Swedish collective agreement if an employer can show that the employees are already included in terms and conditions that are at least as good as those in a Swedish central branch agreement.