Stricter rules for 24-hour rest are set to come into effect in Sweden on October 1. Negotiations are currently underway between employers’ associations and trade unions on how to implement them. Emergency services personnel have expressed concern, as firefighters may face mass layoffs and won’t be able to work 24-hour shifts. The director of the greater Gothenburg rescue service, Lars Klevensparr, has written to Sweden’s Minister for Civil Defence, Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M), to demand the rescue service is exempt from the rules. Bohlin himself has said that the government should not intervene in the negotiations. While the Swedish municipalities and regions (SKR) have stated that there will be no exceptions to the directive, Bohlin has suggested that there are certain possibilities for exceptions.
On October 1, new stricter rules regarding 24-hour rest come into force in Sweden, and employers’ associations and trade unions are now negotiating how to implement them. Emergency services personnel have expressed strong concerns that they will no longer be allowed to work 24-hour shifts and firefighters have threatened mass redundancies.
Because of this, Lars Klevensparr, federal director of the greater Gothenburg rescue service, has demanded that the government work to ensure that the rescue service in particular is exempted from the rules. The demand came via a letter to Sweden’s Minister for Civil Defence, Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M).
Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M) himself says that the government should not intervene in the current negotiations – to protect the Swedish model.
– It is the parties who negotiate on this type of issue and it is also the order that the government wants to protect. Therefore, I neither can nor should comment on an ongoing negotiation.
Don’t want to speculate on threats of dismissal from firefighters
In his letter to the minister, Lars Klevensparr stresses the important role of the rescue service in civil defence. Something that Carl-Oskar Bohlin agrees with.
– He is absolutely right that the capability in the civil defense must increase, and it is an ambition on the part of the government, but I am not saying that as part of how this negotiation should be handled, says Carl-Oskar Bohlin.
There are firefighters out in the country who are so worried that they have already started looking for other jobs, won’t civil preparedness be affected if there is a staff exodus from the rescue service?
– I do not want to speculate on a hypothetical outcome of negotiations that are not finished. It could affect the outcome of the negotiations.
The Minister: There are certain possibilities for exceptions
Sweden’s municipalities and regions, SKR, which is one of the employer organizations that are now negotiating the implementation of the rules, are clear that there are no exceptions to the directive
– We cannot have collective agreements that conflict with the directive, especially when it comes to protection rules. The purpose of them is to protect the individual’s health and protect the working environment, said Jeanette Hedberg, head of negotiations at SKR to GP earlier this week.
– What we can say with certainty is that we need to ensure that we live up to the requirements set by the directive, she continues.
Despite this, Carl-Oskar Bohlin says that exceptions are certainly possible.
– I don’t want to review any of the parties, I can only state that the directive allows for exceptions, he says.
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