Browning chief., 1947-01-17
naL00xzyc
JEI AHE4D
n GEORGE S. BENSON
Prssixe1s--RandiAS caiitye
Sesny. Alaxsss
Land of Unions

IN stockholm this summer had
a delightful visit with Mr.. Gunnar
Anderson, vice president Of the
Swedish Federation Of Trade Unions.
Mr.. Anderson is a well informed,
intelligent man, who recognizes
clearly the problems Of both man.
agement and labor as well as the
rights and responsibilities Of each.
He answered questions put to him
in fortnight manner, giving
statistics and figures from memory.
Labor unions in Sweden have been
operating for more than SO years.
The Federation is composed of 48
separate unions representing trades
or divisions of trades. Membership
totals 100000, a most amazing
number in view Of the total Swed-
ish population of only 6,0OO,eOO. The
Socialist Democratic party, strong
est among the ranks of labor, is also
the controlling party in the govern
ment.
No Closed Shop
Yet, despite the preponderance Of
labor's voice in the affairs of Swed-
en-, Mr.. Anderson told me that labor
fears the closed shop. Said he: Our
federation opposes the closed shop.
We oppose it on the ground of in
dividual freedom. We believe any
citizen should have freedom to join
union or not to join union and to
work where he wishes. This plan
has worked well in Sweden. Most of
the workers recognize the value of
the union and do join, but they are
not compelled to do So"
Labor-management relations are
excellent throughout most Of Swed-
ish industry. One reason for this is
the constant effort put forth by the
Federation to improve understand
ing between employers and EN-
ployees. Many special committees
made up Of both management and
labor are continually at work for
better understanding.
Outside influence
Dlsagreements and strikes are not
common in Sweden; it is a land of
little labor trouble. But when the
need arises, negotiation" commit
tees attempt to reach an agreement,
but if that fails the parties involved
resort to "conciliation." Mr.. An.
derson stated that conciliation is pre-
ferred to arbitration because it keeps
the responsibilities Of the parties in
volved.
However, an important strike af-
fecting 100000 metal workers ragged
Ave months last year. "The strike
was really unfortunate said Mr..
Anderson. ''The strikers did not
gain more than one-third of a cent
per hour more than they were Of
fered before the strike. OF course,
that amount will never repay the As
million kroner they lost in wages
during the strike. advised against
the strike from the beginning" Lat
er was told that the strike actually
was caused by Communist influence
in the metal workers union.
Which Do You Prefer
The naturalization issue has been
discussed extensively in Sweden.
However, there is no intention on the
part of labor to ask for nationaliza-
ton. chiefly because private enter
prise is, as Mr.. Anderson pointed
out. doing all right Labor has
no reason to think it would fare bet
ter under Naturalization, and it was
Mr.. Anderson's view that even the
status OF labor unions would be cues
t!onable under complete nationaliZa-
tiOn.
Growing thoughtful, Mr.. Anderson
continued: "Private corporations
and government managed corpora
tions could not be expected to COM
pete. Government. through use Of
taxes and other methods, could al
ways come out on top, SO it is best
to have either state management or
private management, not a mixture
Of the two. We prefer private"