We reproduce below the opening address of Hans-Olof Nilsson, the president of the Swedish Food Workers Union (LIVS) at its recent Congress (May 29 - June 3), to which the IUF-A/P Regional Secretary was invited. Hans-Olof Nilsson is also the current president of IUF.
The speech is notable for a number of important points about the future direction of the union and the union’s wider views:
1. the strategic necessity for deeper co-operation and coordination (on collective bargaining) among the unions of food workers in the Nordic countries to deal with common employers in the food industry rather than merging into larger unions of other industries within a country;
2. the importance of the Swedish food industry which has become the country’s 4th largest industry (and its fastest growing export industry) with an annual turnover of approximately US$20 billion, a third of which is derived from exports;
3. the increasing pressure of the Swedish food industry federation of employers on its members to toughen their stance against LIVS;
4. the role of unemployment insurance through the union as a key component in trade union work and the Swedish model;
5. the unsustainability of the current world food system;
6. the launch and publication by LIVS of a book on the global food system written by the editors of the union’s monthly magazine.
Regarding the current global financial crisis, which has also affected Sweden, Hans-Olof Nilsson declared, “We will continue to advocate a classical Keynesian economic policy with massive investments in our common welfare as the only way out of this misery!”
Continued…