Working conditions of interpreters and the responsibility of the government

• The right to interpretation service in Sweden is regulated under the Code of Judicial Procedure, the Administrative Procedures Act, and the State Officials Act. There aredifferent tools for fulfilling the responsibilities of the state, such as state funded educationand provision of authorization. In one crucial area, however, the State has no tools forcontrol and regulation of quality, namely within the labor market were communityinterpreters operate. The majority of interpreters are not employed, only registered withone or more agency. All appointments are made through an agency.Public service providers are obliged to respect the Public Procurement Act. Thus there is acompetition for contracts with agencies and not with interpreters. According to criticalvoices, this has undermined the possibilities for interpreters to have influence on theirlabor legislative situation. As there is no state supervision, except for the authorizedinterpreters, and no supervision of agencies it is impossible to make an accurateestimation of quality. We know, however, that there is divergence between agencies carefor interpreters. Some agencies pay for education, authorization, coaching andprofessional support while other agencies do nothing of the sort.Our empirical material is based on more than 100 interviews with community interpreters,educators, agencies, users etc., and fieldwork within all areas of community interpreting.Our paper deals with such rights of community interpreters as education, proper paymentand security. It deals with the question of professionalism, how the existing structuralframe undermines the ambition of interpreters to continue developing their professionalskills. It is a right for both the public service officer and the immigrant who cannot speak Swedish to have access to a skilled interpreter. The paper will consequently deal with theresponsibilities of the state in relation to above mentioned issues.

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