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- Bengtsson, Erik, 1984
(author)
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Do Unions Redistribute Income from Capital to Labour? Union Density and Wage Shares since 1960
- 2014
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In: Industrial relations journal. - : Wiley. - 0019-8692 .- 1468-2338. ; 45:5, s. 389-408
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The income distribution between capital and labour is understudied within industrial relations. This article investigates the relationship between union density, taken as an indicator of the bargaining power of unions, and the wage share of national income in 16 advanced capitalist economies since 1960. It is shown that overall there is a positive relationship between union density and the wage share, as one would expect. But the relationship is weak or non-existent in the Nordic countries, and in some specifications in Germany and Anglo-Saxon countries, and overall it is weak in the 1980s and early 1990s. The article discusses the differences between countries in relationship to the literature on corporatism and wage moderation, and the decreasing effect over time with reference to increased global competition and conservatism of monetary policy from about 1980 on, increasing unions' incentives for wage moderation policies.
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- Bengtsson, Erik, 1984
(author)
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Labour’s Share in Twentieth Century Sweden: A Reinterpretation
- 2014
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In: Scandinavian Economic History Review. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0358-5522 .- 1750-2837. ; 62:3, s. 290-314
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The distribution of national income between capital and labour is a classical theme in political economy. This paper takes a long-run perspective to the issue and asks two questions: How did the distribution of income between capital and labour develop in Sweden from 1900 to 2000? And how can this development best be explained? It is shown that labour's share in Sweden in the 100 years from 1900 to 2000 saw three important shifts, and the three shifts are analyzed. Around 1920, there was a surge in labour's share as workers mobilised in trade unions and universal suffrage and the eight-hour working day in manufacturing strengthened the bargaining power of workers. From 1950 until the late 1970s, there was another period of an increasing labour share, when the welfare state expanded and trade unions were strong. Contra the well-known postwar wage moderation analysis, there was no wage moderation in Sweden during the 1950s and 1960s, but rather the opposite: wages increased faster than productivity which caused a redistribution from capital to labour and reduced income inequality. The third shift occurred around 1980 when labour's share started a continuous decrease, beginning with several devaluations intended to increase profitability and competitiveness of Swedish business.
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- Bengtsson, Erik, 1984
(author)
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Organisera eller rekrytera? En rapport om facklig förnyelse
- 2013
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Reports (other academic/artistic)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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- Bengtsson, Erik, 1984
(author)
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Swedish Trade Unions and European Union Migrant Workers
- 2013
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In: Journal of Industrial Relations. - : SAGE Publications. - 0022-1856 .- 1472-9296. ; 55:2, s. 174-189
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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- Bengtsson, Selma, 1984, et al.
(author)
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A comparative life cycle assessment of marine fuels: liquefied natural gas and three other fossil fuels
- 2011
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In: Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part M: Journal of Engineering for the Maritime Environment. - : SAGE Publications. - 2041-3084 .- 1475-0902. ; 225:2, s. 97-110
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Air emissions from shipping have received attention in recent years and the shippingindustry is striving for solutions to reduce their emissions and to comply with stricter regulations.Strategies to reduce emissions can consist of a fuel switch, engine changes, or end-ofpipetechnologies, but they do not necessarily imply reduced life cycle emissions. The presentpaper assesses the environmental performance of marine fuels from well-to-propeller using lifecycle assessment (LCA). Four fossil fuels are compared: heavy fuel oil (HFO), marine gas oil,gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuel, and liquefied natural gas (LNG), combined with two exhaust abatementtechniques: open-loop scrubber and selective catalytic reduction. LNG and other alternativesthat comply with the SECA 2015 and Tier III NOx requirements give decreased acidification andeutrophication potentials with 78–90 per cent in a life cycle perspective compared with HFO. Incontrast, the use of LNG does not decrease the global warming potential by more than 8–20 percent, the amount depending mainly on the magnitude of the methane slip from the gas engine.None of the fossil fuels scrutinized here would decrease the greenhouse gas emissions significantlyfrom a life cycle perspective. The study supports the need for LCA when evaluating theenvironmental impact of a fuel change, e.g. it is found that the highest global warming potentialduring the whole life cycle is connected to the alternatives with GTL fuel.
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- Bengtsson, Selma, 1984, et al.
(author)
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Environmental Assessment of Two Pathways Towards the Use of Biofuels in Shipping
- 2012
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In: Energy Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0301-4215. ; 44, s. 451-463
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The goal of this study is to evaluate the life cycle performance of two alternative pathways to biofuels in the shipping industry: the 'diesel route' and the 'gas route'. The diesel route comprises of a shift from heavy fuel oil to marine gas oil and then a gradual shift to biodiesel, whereas the gas route comprises of a shift to liquefied natural gas and then a gradual shift to liquefied biogas. The two routes are assessed in a case study for the ferry traffic between the Swedish mainland and the island Gotland. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used to evaluate the environmental performance with the functional unit chosen to be one year of ro-pax ferry service, including both passenger and goods transportation. The gas route is indicated to have better overall environmental performance than the diesel route. Furthermore, use of biofuels is illustrated as one possible measure to decrease the global warming impact from shipping, but to the expense of greater environmental impact for some other impact categories. As an example, the global warming potential (GWP(100)) was shown to decrease with the use of biofuels in this study, while the eutrophication potential and the primary energy use increased.
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- Bengtsson, Selma, 1984, et al.
(author)
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Environmental feasibility of biogas and biodiesel as fuel for passenger ferries
- 2011
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In: SETAC Europe 17th LCA Case Study Symposium, 28 February -1March, Budapest. - 9789638667076 ; , s. 53-54
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Mobility is important in our everyday life. Marine transportation has the potential to increase its level of sustainability, by implementing new cleaning technologies, increase its energy efficiency and/or by changing fuel. The ferry traffic between the Swedish mainland and the island Gotland has a unique opportunity to be a first mover with environmentally sustainable shipping solutions, as it is procured by the Swedish authority Rikstrafiken. The present contract expires in January 2015 and Rikstrafiken has therefore made an investigation regarding the future ferry traffic [1]. This investigation stresses long term economical, social and environmental sustainability as conditions for the future ferry traffic. One possible solution to come closer to environmental sustainability could be to use biogas as fuel. Biogas has shown good life cycle environmental performance as vehicle fuel (e.g.[2]), but the use of liquefied biogas on ships has not been tested or evaluated. Liquefaction is needed in order to have acceptable energy content per unit volume of the fuel, but the liquefaction process is energy intensive and costly [3]. Biodiesel is another possible solution to consider. Both biogas and biodiesel can be blended with fossil fuels (natural gas and diesel, respectively) [4]. Here the environmental performance of liquefied biogas and biodiesel are compared with marine gas oil and liquefied natural gas.
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- Bengtsson, Selma, 1984, et al.
(author)
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Fuels for short sea shipping: A comparative assessment with focus on environmental impact
- 2014
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In: Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part M: Journal of Engineering for the Maritime Environment. - : SAGE Publications. - 2041-3084 .- 1475-0902. ; 228:1, s. 44-54
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Short sea shipping is facing harder requirements on exhaust emissions in the coming years as stricter regulations are enforced in some regions of the world. In addition, shortage of conventional fuels as well as restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions makes the search for new fuels of interest. The objective of this article is to assess important characteristics to evaluate when selecting fuels for short sea shipping. The following four criteria are considered: (1) local and regional environmental impacts, (2) overall environmental impact, (3) infrastructure and (4) fuel cost and competition with other transport modes. Special focus is put on environmental impact, and life cycle assessment is used for the environmental assessment. The fuels compared in this study are heavy fuel oil, marine gas oil, biomass-to-liquid fuel, rapeseed methyl ester, liquefied natural gas and liquefied biogas. This study shows that liquefied natural gas will reduce the local and regional environmental impacts more relative to the other fuels investigated here. Furthermore, liquefied biogas is found to be the most preferable if all envirtsonmental impact categories are considered. This study also highlights the importance to consider other impact categories for short sea shipping compared to deep sea shipping and shows that NOX emission is the dominant contributor to all assessed environmental impact categories with local and regional impac
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