스웨덴 조선산업의 축소와 고용조정 (1974~1987)

For more than a decade since the mid-1970s, the Swedish shipbuilding industry underwent massive layoffs, and all major shipyards have been closed. In this process, the Social Democratic Workers’ Party of Sweden and the Metal Workers’ Union institutionalized and implemented employment adjustment rules based on the ideology of solidarity and equality. In order to supplement the limitations of traditional active labor market policies, the Employment Protection Act and the Co-determination Act were enacted in the mid-1970s, which strengthened the union’s voice in the employment adjustment process. The unemployment insurance, the old-age pension, and the employment security agreements were institutional arrangements to support employment adjustment in the shipbuilding industry. With these arrangements it was possible to share the cost of employment adjustment for the whole society. The government intervened in the labor demand side to secure employment and played a central role in providing labor market services. In addition, the Swedish Metal Workers’ Union played an important role in preparing restructuring policies. The labor unions at the workplace level participated in the process of formulating employment adjustment policies for each shipyards and played a role as a responsible actor in implementing those policies. The shipyard workers’ unions could succeed to minimize competition between shipyard employees and share employment adjustment costs based on social solidarity. The restructuring and closing down of the Swedish major shipyards is a examplary case of the employment adjustment based on the socal democratic ideology and values, which represents the broadest and highest list of workers’ rights related to employment adjustment in the 20th century.