| 11. |
- Bengtsson, Erik, 1984
(författare)
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Organisera eller rekrytera? En rapport om facklig förnyelse
- 2013
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Ur inledningen Det finns en klassisk historia som antagligen alla som är aktiva i arbetarrörelsen har hört i någon variant. Den handlar om hur det var ”förr” – ungefär 1960- eller 1970-talet – med att gå med i facket. En man – för det handlar oftast om mansdominerade arbetsplatser – berättar om den tiden: ”Du vet, när jag 1971/1965/1961 började jobba på varvet/Volvo/ SKF, när jag skulle skriva på anställningskontraktet med chefen då stod fackklubbsordföranden bredvid och så skrev jag in mig i facket samtidigt. Det var inget att snacka om! Det var självklart att man skulle vara med i facket. Så är det inte längre.” Nej, så är det inte längre. I vilken utsträckning det någonsin varit så kan man diskutera. Men säkert är att det idag inte är självklart för svenskarna, och särskilt inte för de unga, att gå med i facket. Andelen av arbetarna som var fackligt anslutna år 2009 var 71 procent, att jämföra med 79 procent år 2006 och 88 procent år 1995. Bland unga arbetare – 16 till 24 år – var bara 40 procent fackligt anslutna år 2009 (Larsson 2010). Antalet medlemmar i LO:s förbund har minskat från strax över två miljoner år 2000 till runt 1,5 miljoner idag. Men att antalet LO-medlemmar minskar är delvis en annan sak än en sjunkande organisationsgrad. Det minskade medlemsantalet har bland annat att göra med att antalet arbetstillfällen inom LO-områdena successivt minskar som ett led i arbetsmarknadens strukturomvandling. Antalet medlemmar i olika fackförbund påverkar främst maktförhållandena mellan facken och vilka organisationer som blir mest tongivande i exempelvis samhällsdebatten. Men för respektive fackförbund är organisationsgraden av större intresse. Fackets roll är ju att fungera som en försäljningskartell vars främsta syfte är att förhindra att inbördes konkurrens bland arbetarna pressar ner löner och övriga villkor.
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| 12. |
- Bengtsson, Erik, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Productivity Relations among Second Wave Industrializers: Evidence from German–Swedish Benchmarks for 1907 and 1954
- 2015
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Ingår i: 11:e svenska ekonomisk-historiska mötet, Umeå, 8-10 oktober 2015.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Sweden and Germany are both famous as late industrializers, or more precisely as participants in the second wave of industrialization: after especially the United Kingdom led the way, a host of countries including Scandinavia and (the newly united) Germany followed from the 1870s on. The analysis of “late industrialization” often builds on a Gerschenkronian perspective, stressing the “advantages of backwardness” resulting on fast productivity growth. Furthermore, in economic history both Sweden and Germany have a reputation for strong iron and steel production, while Germany is also famous for its coal mines as well as the chemical industry and engineering. Sweden is more renowned for products relating to pulp and paper, but also engineering. This paper makes historical reconstructions of sectoral level productivity relations between manufacturing sectors in Sweden and Germany in 1907 and 1954 to establish which of the two countries had the more productive industries at different points in time from the late 19th century to the mid 20th century. We also focus specifically on the sectoral level.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
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| 15. |
- Bengtsson, Erik, 1984
(författare)
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Social dumping cases in the Swedish Labour Court in the wake of Laval, 2004-2010
- 2016
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Ingår i: Economic and Industrial Democracy. - : SAGE Publications. - 0143-831X .- 1461-7099. ; 37:1, s. 23-42
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article studies conflicts in the Swedish Labour Court that have occurred between trade unions and companies concerning the pay and working conditions for European Union migrant workers in Sweden during the period 2004-2010. During this period, unions and employers entered into disputes over: unions' rights in Sweden to be consulted when a company uses a subcontractor, the definition of an employee (the issue of 'bogus self-employment'), the application of Swedish collective bargaining agreements to and for workers active in Sweden, how to determine wages for temporary staffing agency workers, and workers' rights to join a trade union. The article discusses the conflicts in the context of a widespread concern about 'social dumping' in the European Union, and in the context of weakening trade unions and institutional change in labour markets.
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| 16. |
- Bengtsson, Erik, 1984
(författare)
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Swedish Trade Unions and European Union Migrant Workers
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Industrial Relations. - : SAGE Publications. - 0022-1856 .- 1472-9296. ; 55:2, s. 174-189
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The enlargement of the European Union in 2004 increased the flows of workers across national borders within the unions, making action against social dumping an increased priority for unions. Which factors influence unions’ choices of strategies against wage dumping? Research has shown that in a cross-national perspective, unions with stronger institutional positions, defined as their influence on public policy and extent of collective bargaining coverage, have tended to be less interested in organising migrant workers than unions with weaker institutional positions. This article examines the choices made by three Swedish unions, all three with strong institutional positions, in responding to migrant workers: two have developed extensive organising responses, while the third relies on cooperation with employers and collective bargaining coverage to counteract social dumping. The article shows that intra-national variation can be explained by sectoral-based issues: that is, variation at both a country and sectoral level influences unions’ strategic choices towards migrant workers. The article further highlights the transference of the Anglo-Saxon union revitalisation model in some sectors of the Swedish trade union movement, which faces increasing pressure as a result of labour precariousness in the Swedish labour market.
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| 17. |
- Bengtsson, Erik, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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The (International) Political Economy of Falling Wage Shares: Situating Working-Class Agency
- 2015
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Ingår i: New Political Economy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1356-3467 .- 1469-9923. ; 20:3, s. 406-430
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper relates the financial and monetary dimensions of the contemporary economic crisis to working-class agency via a central concern of classical political economy: the distribution of surplus between the chief factors of production. The fall in the wage share of value added is now accepted as a stylised fact in the empirical economic literature. This paper argues that the punctuated pattern of the development validates the regulation theoretical narrative of an epochal shift from Fordism to finance-led accumulation. Furthermore, synthesising econometric studies supports a class-centred explanation. In the last instance, the falling wage share is due to successful transnational class rule in the form of a neoliberal hegemonic paradigm. Crucially, such class rule restructured the environment of trade unions, rendering increasingly ineffective its relational power resources. The paper concludes by considering the contradictory implications for organised labour of the current financial crisis. On the one hand, the financial crisis offers an opportunity to link its particular interests to the general interest of macroeconomic management since low wage share inhibits growth rates. But how might trade unions assert a higher wage share in the face of the structural power of (financial) capital? © 2014, © 2014 Taylor & Francis.
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| 18. |
- Bengtsson, Erik, 1984
(författare)
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The Swedish Sonderweg in Question: Democratization and Inequality in Comparative Perspective, c.1750–1920
- 2019
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Ingår i: Past & Present. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0031-2746 .- 1477-464X. ; 244:1, s. 123-161
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- During the twentieth century, Sweden became known as a country with an unusually egalitarian distribution of income and wealth, an encompassing welfare state, and an exceptionally strong social democracy. It is commonplace among historians and social scientists to consider these equal outcomes of the twentieth century as the logical end result of a much longer historical trajectory of egalitarianism, from early modern free peasant farmers or from a peculiar Swedish political culture that was egalitarian and consensus-oriented. This article questions the Swedish interpretation of Sonderweg. In 1900, Sweden had some of the most unequal voting laws in western Europe, and more severe economic inequality than the United States. This throws the purported continuity from early modern equality to social democratic equality into question. The roots of twentieth-century Swedish egalitarianism lie in exceptionally well-organized popular movements after 1870, with a strong egalitarian counter-hegemonic culture and unusually broad popular participation in politics.
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| 19. |
- Bengtsson, Erik, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Unequal poverty and equal industrialisation: Finnish wealth, 1750-1900
- 2019
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Economic History Review. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0358-5522 .- 1750-2837. ; 67:3, s. 229-248
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the first comprehensive, long-run estimates of Finnish wealth and its distribution from 1750 to 1900. Using wealth data from 17,279 probate inventories, we show that Finland was very unequal between 1750 and 1850; the top decile owned about 90% of total wealth. This means that Finland was more unequal than the much wealthier economies Britain, France and the US, which goes against the common assumption of richer economies being more unequal. Moreover, when industrialisation took off in Finland, inequality started a downward trajectory. High inequality 1750-1850 was bottom-driven, by a large share of the population owning nothing or close to nothing of value, while economic development after 1850 was pro-equal since the ownership of forests, since long in the hands of the peasantry, became more valuable with the development of forest-based industries. Our findings thus contradict commonplace assumptions that economic growth and industrialisation are associated with more inequality, as well as recent arguments that very few factors beyond catastrophes can decrease inequality. We instead argue for a more inductive and open approach to the determinants of long-run inequality.
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| 20. |
- Bengtsson, Erik, 1984
(författare)
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Union Voices: Tactics and Tensions in UK Organizing
- 2015
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Ingår i: Capital & Class. - : SAGE Publications. - 0309-8168 .- 2041-0980. ; 39:2, s. 400-403
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Recension (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A book review of two books on trade unionism in Anglo-Saxon countries: Union Voices: Tactics and Tensions in UK Organizing by Melanie Simms, Jane Holgate and Edmund Heery (ILR Press, 2013) and Wisconsin Uprising: Labor Fights Back edited by Michael D. Yates (Monthly Review Press, 2012).
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