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There are ten collective bargaining agreements that apply to IKEM – Innovation and Chemical Industries in Sweden. For nine of them, the trade union Industrifacket Metall is the counterparty. In addition, IKEM - the Swedish Industrial and Chemical Employers’ Association is bound by this collective bargaining agreement for white collar employees.  These agreements regulate such matters as terms and termination of employment contracts, working time, minimum wages, holiday pay and sickness compensation etc. The agreements are often supplemented by local collective bargaining agreements.

The definition of a collective bargaining agreement can be found in the Employment Act, which states that a collective bargaining agreement is an agreement in writing between employers’ organisations or an employer on the one hand and an employees’ organisation on the other hand, which regulates conditions of employment or the relationship between employers and employees.

The two most important consequences of a collective bargaining agreement are:

1. that departures in individual agreements from the terms of a collective bargaining agreement are invalid if both parties to the individual agreements are bound by the collective bargaining agreement and the departure is not expressly permitted by the collective bargaining agreement (This is called the “mandatory effect of collective bargaining agreements”).

2. as a rule, it is not permitted to resort to industrial actions (e.g. strikes and lock-outs) during the term of the agreement with the objective of altering the agreement or exerting pressure in the event of a dispute over the implications of a collective bargaining agreement (this is called the “peace obligation”).

Collective bargaining agreements are signed for given periods, normally between two and four years. A collective bargaining agreement is binding both on the employers’ organisation and its members on the one hand and on the union and its members on the other hand. Furthermore, as a general rule, a collective bargaining agreement is also in practice, if not in theory, binding on non-unionised individual employees and unionised employees who belong to other unions than the union being part to the agreement, provided that (i) the employee is engaged in tasks that are covered by the agreement and (ii) the union that the employee belongs to is not itself bound by another collective bargaining agreement with the employer.

A collective bargaining agreement is reached by means of negotiation. The Co-determination Act makes it clear that each trade union and employer or employers’ organisation shall have the right to negotiate in all areas which affect the relationship between the employer and employee. It can involve regulating unresolved issues by means of an agreement between the parties or replacing previously existing regulations with new ones. A right to negotiate for one party means an obligation for the other party to participate in the negotiations.

This collective bargaining agreement covers
Agreements on occupational pensions (ITP)
Agreements on occupational group life assurance (TGL)
Employment transition agreements
Employment security agreements (TFA)
Development agreements
Agreements on the right to white collar employees’ inventions
Agreements on non-compete clauses
Basic agreements (bargaining procedure)
Agreements on social security for white collar employees posted abroad
The Industry Agreement – the industrial cooperation agreement and negotiation agreement (Unionen and Sveriges Ingenjörer [The Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers])
Agreements on skills development in enterprises
Agreements on Guidelines in occupational health and safety issues