(cont. from § 10) Working environment and working hours (cont. AU8)

Helena Vilhelmsson (C)

Madam Speaker! The working environment in Swedish workplaces stands very well in an international perspective, but despite everything, the number of workplace accidents remains far too large in certain particularly hard-hit industries, as we have heard here today. Not least, the gloomy statistics from the last year speak their clear language. Many young men are in the risk zone for serious incidents, and at the same time, the number of reports of occupational diseases among women as a result of organizational and social problems is constantly high.

Specific initiatives and better conditions are needed for employers to conduct preventive work on the work environment with a special focus on small companies, as they have more limited resources than large companies. The initiatives can involve knowledge dissemination, advice, or better tools to facilitate the systematic work on the work environment.

Furthermore, it is of the utmost importance to simplify the regulatory framework. The requirements in the area of the work environment can vary, and they must be adapted in order to best secure the work environment result. But there is no doubt as to where the responsibility lies. It lies with the employer.

An improved working environment for women is an important part of reducing sick leave, not least in light of the aforementioned increased number of occupational diseases. Protective equipment and protective clothing must be available. I may think that there are some lame formulations in the report, as well as when it comes to other groups who experience that they are marginalized and not included.

Since the corona pandemic and with the help of technological development in general, working from home, remotely, has been tested very much, and it has increased a lot in the recent period. It has shown challenges and risk of negative effects, including that people have risked becoming socially isolated. But it has also shown very many advantages, such as a reduced need for transport and less time spent commuting - which facilitates the life puzzle and gives children greater access to their parents, as well as reduced costs for offices and a broadened recruitment base for employers which also means that city and country are linked together.

The development of remote work is timely and is part of the development of digitalization. It makes the work situation more flexible for more employees and employers, and suddenly, better conditions arise for living in another location, which makes all of Sweden grow and develop.

Madam Speaker! More incentives are needed so that more people with the right skills dare to move to where they are needed. Therefore, the Center Party continues to push the issue that the possibility of remote work must be facilitated in order to promote that more people are given the opportunity to settle in Sweden's rural areas. Therefore, one should consider introducing specific remote work legislation.

It is good that the agency Mynak has now been tasked with evaluating remote work, not least from an equality perspective. Even here, the report lacks writings on a whole-country perspective when it comes to remote work, and I find this regrettable. The regulations for the working environment and the Swedish Work Environment Authority's advice and support must keep up with the times and be adapted to remote work.

Madam Speaker! The Centre Party wants to achieve a society where women and men have equal opportunity for power and influence over their own situation - a society that contributes to women and men being able to support themselves and not be financially dependent on a partner.

A woman is expected by many employers to stay home more, and a man is expected to a greater extent to prioritize work over children. Whether we want it or not, these values persist.

Part of the reason that structural wage differences exist is that female-dominated occupations are valued lower than male-dominated occupations. Centerpartiet wants wage mappings to be conducted every three years, but more properly and with sharper results, as a step towards making wage differences visible. We perhaps cannot wait as long as we want and accept this. If the wage mappings do not yield those results and lead to the measures that we actually see making a difference, perhaps they must be conducted more often.

We also have proposals that, for example, state agencies should equalize the inexplicable pay gaps, that all individual-based statistics shall be gender-disaggregated, and that continued efforts for gender equality integration shall be made as part of this.

We also need to work with advice and advisory instruments such as nudging and also with the measure of double nominations to boards. The fact that men on average earn more than women over their lifetimes must cease.

The wage differences also depend on the amount of time worked, which is influenced by, among other things, parental leave, vab, part-time work, industry, career, and sick leave. Part-time work hinders career and wage development, and the part-time norm is a problem for many women. Centerpartiet works to ensure that the part-time norm for women is broken on the labor market.

The goal of equal pay for equal work is important, and the Center Party believes that, like other Nordic countries, we need to continue working on taking new steps and investigating new ways to reduce the pay gap between women and men.

Madam Speaker! Let me speak a little about human trafficking. The platform Civila Sverige mot Människohandel has in recent years experienced an increased influx of victims of human trafficking and exploitation in Sweden. The majority of these have not been identified by authorities, which most often means that the individuals do not have their rights met.

Sweden has been criticized several times, among other things by the Swedish National Audit Office and the Council of Europe's expert committee, for being far too poor at proactively identifying, searching for, finding and identifying particularly vulnerable crime victims, such as undocumented persons and unaccompanied minors, who are exploited in work through human trafficking.

There is simply too little outreach activity from the social services and the police to find these people. This is somewhat regrettable because it is only these two authorities that today are allowed to apply for the crime victims' convention-mandated basic rights package, as it stands in the rights, that is, reflection time – a 30-day consideration period. The Center Party believes that more authorities and also non-profit organizations should have the right to apply for such a consideration period, because it is primarily the non-profit organizations that find the crime victims. That is how it works in England, and it is very good.

One of the simplest and most important tools for the vulnerable to receive information about their rights is to establish a national hotline, a proposal that the platform, among others, is working for. Most countries in Europe have a national hotline.

In our neighboring countries Finland and Norway, there is a state-funded 24-hour national telephone hotline providing information, help, and support also to the general public and to vulnerable crime victims. Neighbors and colleagues who believe or suspect that something is not right, but who may not be ready to call the police directly, can call a hotline and ask for advice.

Sweden must live up to the international commitments for victims of human trafficking and ensure that they are identified and gain access to information, protection, and support without it being, as it is today, conditional on cooperation in a legal process.

Victims of crime have the right to rest and recovery to then decide if they want to go home, if they are not from Sweden, or participate in a legal process to convict those who commit the crime, that is, the human traffickers. This is an extremely important issue for combating this criminality. Centerpartiet wants to task the Gender Equality Authority with introducing such a hotline that is staffed around the clock.

I miss a bit of this point and this perspective in the government's writings in the report. One talks about agency cooperation against labor-related crime where human exploitation occurs, and one talks about that the Delegation against labor-related crime has received a clear mandate. Yes, but this applies to human trafficking for work, not people who are exposed to trafficking and sexual work.

The Government also refers in the report to the new act on the duty to provide information which has recently been submitted to the Riksdag. It is good, but it primarily concerns the duty to provide information between authorities. With it, one does not explicitly reach other civil associations which can be a great help in this.

It is written that the committee will continue to follow this work closely, but the government following it closely yields no more identified crime victims. But a national hotline can.

I therefore move for approval of reservation 16.

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TREDJE VICE TALMANNEN

I remind the member that the language in the chamber is Swedish. English expressions that are used should be translated into Swedish so that everyone listening has equal opportunities to participate.

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Leila Ali Elmi (MP)

Madam Speaker! Today we have the privilege of discussing a committee report concerning two central aspects of working life and, in the long run, also society as a whole: the work environment and working hours.

I will first direct attention to the issues regarding the work environment, and later I will move on to the issue of working hours.

Madam Speaker! A poor working environment poses a danger to employees, and as we have all seen, this can lead to physical and mental ill health and even death. This can never be allowed to be a competitive advantage for unscrupulous employers.

We need to address the cynicism of certain employers who clearly disregard the prevention of work-related injuries. They seem to think that it will work as long as it does and that it will be cheaper to pay sanction fees than to carry out the required preventive measures. To disregard the work environment is to break the law, and this must be taken seriously.

We in Miljöpartiet see the need to resolve more occupational environment crimes, and the government needs to allocate resources for this. The sentencing scales for this type of crime need to be reviewed. There must be consequences if the law is broken.

We also want to give the regional safety representatives access to all workplaces with collective agreements, even if there are no union members at the workplace. I am therefore deeply concerned that the Tidö parties do not take the latest developments regarding physical and mental ill health and fatal accidents at workplaces seriously.

The Tidö parties reject the committee initiative on a crisis commission for the construction industry, which was initiated by the Socialdemokraterna and is supported by Miljöpartiet and Centerpartiet. Instead, they put forward a significantly vaguer and, frankly, weaker alternative.

The year 2023 was the deadliest year in the labor market since 2018, and the construction industry continues to be the industry where the most workers lose their lives due to accidents with a fatal outcome.

All deaths are of course equally tragic, regardless of which sector of the labor market they occur in. But given that the construction industry year after year has the highest number of accidents, we see an urgent need for specific measures to identify and address the underlying causes.

It is therefore deeply regrettable that the Tidö parties say no to the special committee initiative for a crisis commission for the construction industry, the purpose of which is to reduce the number of fatal accidents.

Madam Speaker! Today we face an important debate in society regarding shorter working hours. The reasons are the same today as they were 50 years ago, when the 40-hour work week was introduced. It was seen that society was not holding together and that there was an imbalance between work life and health.

Shorter working hours is an issue that has long been a central part of the Green Party's policy. Although we have previously faced opposition and sometimes been regarded as out of touch with reality, I am pleased to see that the rest of society is now also beginning to realize the importance of this issue.

Several trade unions have opened for discussion on shorter working hours, which shows that the time is ripe for change. Several employers have also tested reduced working hours, and after an evaluation, they have decided to introduce reduced working hours permanently.

Historically, the reduction of working hours has been a necessary and natural part of societal development. When the 40-hour week was introduced, it was a significant change, and it is important to remember that a 40-hour work week is not a law of nature. It was not until 1919 that an eight-hour workday was introduced in legislation, and it took until 1970 for the decision on our current 40-hour work week. The changes were made to give people more time for rest and recovery and to promote healthier and more balanced lives.

Now - over 50 years later - it is time for us to take the necessary steps to meet the needs of modern society in order to once again promote a healthier and more balanced life. The high rates of illness due to stress speak a clear language.

We have the material wealth required to reduce working hours, and people need a better balance between work and leisure. The high level of sick leaves due to stress and the skyrocketing mental ill-health is a clear sign that something must be done.

By introducing shorter working hours, we can reduce stress-related illnesses and promote better mental health. A balance between work and leisure is crucial for our well-being, both as individuals and as a society.

This is also about social justice. By giving all people the opportunity for a better balance between work and private life, we can increase equality and create a more just society.

It is time to act. It is time for shorter working hours. That being said, I move for the approval of reservations 25 and 41.

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Patrik Lundqvist (S)

Madam Speaker! Working environment and working hours is the section we are debating today. Unfortunately, these parts of working life go hand in hand with crime in the workplace. It is no coincidence that the industries where people die, are injured, and suffer harm are also often heavily affected by crime.

A major reason why the state has lost control over all too large parts of the labor market is the focus that has been on simplifications and the blind spot that has existed regarding what is permitted when the state stops controlling what happens and who is granted permission for what.

It is, for example, about removing requirements for authorized auditors, lowering the capital requirements to form a limited company, and cutting back on the Work Environment Authority's inspections. It is also about how the state, under the previous Alliance government, gave individual companies the power to judge for themselves whether there is a labor shortage within their industry and thereby also decide whether it is necessary to recruit labor from abroad instead of needing to hire within Sweden. It is also about the current system of "nystartsjobb" (startup jobs) which are not controlled or, at best, are inadequately controlled.

Jens Nylander, an entrepreneur from my county who once started the company Jens of Sweden and who now works with AI and data analysis, has reviewed payments and the companies that have received a share of, for example, the nystartsjobb. He has also done other things, including auditing municipalities and their invoicing and the payments – incredibly interesting!

To return to the "nystartsjobb" (new start jobs), he has, for example, found companies that have not even had any operations in 2022 but have lain dormant. The company has changed owners four times in a year, but in 2023, when they say they want to start up the operations again, they are immediately issued half a million in "nystartsbidrag" (new start grants). At best, the company will have a financial statement for 2023 and an operation that makes them eligible for the new start grants, but one can well be a bit skeptical about how this works.

In November 2023, the National Audit Office formulated it as follows: "The National Audit Office's review shows that the design of the support can facilitate abuse and that parts of the control are ineffective."

Madam Speaker! One must still say that this is a stinging criticism from the National Audit Office, an authority that is generally quite restrained in how it expresses itself, just as it should be.

This is happening because people have had blinders on regarding what is actually moving out there in the business sector, alongside the diligent and admirable individuals who run companies and naturally constitute the majority. From the right side, they do not want to see that alongside them there are also these criminals who see their chance to easily get a share of the cake that they have no right to.

Simple and smooth is of course very good for those who behave, but in this way risks becoming a dustbin for those who have no ambition at all to behave but instead see the chance to fleece the public of money and outcompete serious companies with black money, all with the help of a flexible attitude towards the laws and rules that apply. At the same time, they get a foot in the white economy to wash profits from, for example, drug sales and other criminal activities.

This naive attitude towards everyone who runs a company or can be described as entrepreneurs has clearly worsened the situation on the Swedish labor market. It has cost the public billions and let in criminals. With substantial capital from crime profits, they compete with construction companies, care providers, restaurateurs, and others who follow the rules and want to contribute to a strong Sweden.

Madam Speaker! Work-life crime is a poison spreading through society, whether a company saves on protective equipment, exploits people from other parts of the world and pays them slave wages and cheats with subsidies, taxes, or fees, or if it "only" involves laundering criminal money from other activities. One can, therefore, never speak of this as only involving crimes against the state or crimes without victims. However bad state fraud is, there are also other victims who lose their livelihood or their life's work or are forced to risk their own health.

Madam Speaker! This is especially evident when larger construction companies in Sweden win tenders from the public sector and then lose control over the construction sites. Despite often emphasizing that they want a fair construction industry where everyone follows agreements, rules, and laws, the large, old, traditional construction companies are often at the top of sophisticated arrangements with very long contractor chains and, in reality, very poor oversight of who is actually present on the construction sites.

Those who perform the actual construction often earn very little, and even if they have decent wages, they sometimes have to pay the money back to bosses and employers who are less accountable. Sometimes this happens by them having to pay overprices for housing, food, and other things that are delivered to them. Sometimes it is a pure bribe just to be able to stay in Sweden and keep the job and the opportunity to still earn some money.

Now that the construction industry is entering a recession, one can wonder who it actually is that will get to keep their jobs moving forward. Is it those who work at serious companies, follow Swedish rules, behave themselves and try to support their families here in Sweden? Or is it those who perhaps aren't even registered, who flee from the construction sites when Arbetsmiljöverket comes for an inspection? I am afraid it will be the latter, and that is not a development I want to see in Sweden.

Madam Speaker! It is also visible in the assistance industry, where money for an individual's opportunity to live a full life constitutes quite large amounts and becomes a strong incentive to cheat and defraud. Hans Brun, an analyst at the police's national fraud center, likened last year the links between criminal gangs and the assistance industry to an emerging mafia structure emerging in Sweden. Individual setups can amount to 20-30 million. Then one quickly understands why it is tempting to enter this industry both to take part of state funds and to wash money quickly and in large quantities.

Hans Brun further said that the system which our politicians - naturally with good intentions - have created so that it should be easy to use, customer-friendly, non-bureaucratic and well-functioning is easy for criminals to exploit and make money from. That, Madam Speaker, is quite easy to agree with. There is a naivety behind the fact that control and compliance with laws weigh lightly in these contexts. The balance between simplicity and control under society has been lost in all too much simplicity.

The catering industry is another industry that is severely affected by organized crime in the working life. There, black labor, money laundering, extortion, and drug sales are all too often combined. Schemes involving VAT fraud, false invoices, shell companies, straw men, and advanced corporate structures are becoming increasingly common as cash handling decreases and one can no longer earn money in that part.

Not infrequently, this occurs with the help of lawyers who sell ready-made setups that criminals can use to start bars and get their money out into the white economy. The police described these consultants as professional money launderers in a report from March this year.

This type of crime may not receive the same attention as the gang-related shootings, but it is embarrassingly obvious that the two go hand in hand. As Hans Brun pointed out, we see the outlines of a Swedish mafia, and it is a development we do not want to see.

We still have the opportunity to stop this before it takes hold, but then the focus on crime in the labor market and this type of criminality must increase. The state must regain control over the labor market and kick out those who do not want to play by the rules and laws that apply in Sweden.

I realize that I have taken quite a bit more time for this entry than I had stated, and for that I apologize. This is such an important subject that I could not help myself.

(Applause)

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Saila Quicklund (M)

Madam Speaker! The Government wants to see more safety representatives, regardless of whether they are union members or not. This does not mean that we want to decouple the safety representatives from the unions. The safety representatives have a very important role in creating safe and secure workplaces, which has been mentioned here earlier today. They represent all employees at the workplace, regardless of whether they are union members or not.

To reduce the risk of accidents and illnesses, it is very important that we get more safety representatives. This was also the reason why the government in September tasked Arbetsmiljöverket to investigate how we can get more safety representatives. It shall be designed within applicable regulations, and the rules of the Work Environment Act shall continue to apply. That also includes the rules for how the safety representatives are appointed.

My question to the member is: What is the analysis of why the Social Democratic government, despite this deficiency, failed to increase the number of local safety representatives? What measures were taken during the eight years in government?

Earlier we heard Member Johanna Haraldsson speak about a survey with known factors that made it difficult to recruit. If these factors were so well-known, why did the government fail to address this part?

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Patrik Lundqvist (S)

Madam Speaker! Those were exciting and interesting questions. I was a safety representative myself before I came here to the Riksdag. I know what that job is and how heavy and difficult it can be depending on which employer party one has.

I find it quite interesting that I am receiving questions about this, which Saila said she discussed earlier today with Johanna Haraldsson, even though I did not speak about it at all in my speech. I had a completely different starting point and spoke about another part of the matter that we are now debating.

It is clear that it is important to ensure that we get more safety representatives out at the workplaces. This is not least about ensuring that the regional safety representatives who exist, who actually have the task of being at the workplaces where there is a lack of safety representatives, get the opportunity to be out and help and ensure that one gets a bit of a push in the work environment work at the workplaces. Perhaps one also gets a small incentive in that way so that people can then take over locally and continue the work.

I believe that it would have been an extraordinarily good way to go in order to practically show how safety representatives work and that workplaces can do this in a significantly more efficient way if they engage locally, appoint a safety representative, start attending work environment training and so on and take action on this. I believe that it would have been a very good way to go. It is also the way that the government had thoughts on during the last parliamentary term. This was, however, stopped here in the chamber.

(Applause)

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Saila Quicklund (M)

Madam Speaker! Now Patrik Lundqvist did not answer my question. It was about what the Social Democrats did in government during eight years. It was a lot of present tense that Patrik Lundqvist referred to.

We have a shortage of safety representatives, as has been mentioned several times. At the same time, safety representatives, who have a great interest in these issues, acquire a great deal of knowledge.

In this chamber, there are two members who have 10 years of experience as safety representatives and 25 years in the construction industry. Due to membership in the Sverigedemokraterna, they were however not allowed to be safety representatives anymore. This is quite commonly occurring; even Kristdemokrater have been disqualified from their assignment because they did not have the correct party affiliation.

Today we have major deficiencies. I am talking about people who have solid experience and knowledge and who are educated. Yet, they are not allowed to perform their mission. We all talk about how we must get more safety representatives, and so the party affiliation acts as a brake.

How does the member view the fact that people who want to be safety representatives and would be good at it thanks to long experience are excluded because of party affiliation?

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Patrik Lundqvist (S)

Madam Speaker! I answered the first question. I spoke about the work that the previous government did with the regional safety representatives and how this could motivate and engage people to become local safety representatives. I do not know how unclear it was, but now I hope it was clear that this was a good measure that the previous government tried to implement but which was stopped in the chamber by, among other things, the member's party.

We have freedom of association in Sweden, and trade unions are associations with the possibility to independently decide on statutes, principles, and methods of work. One is also free to independently appoint their elected representatives. I do not think this principle should be nibbled at, because it is important. We need to have independent trade unions that take into account the members' interests, and it is also up to these to appoint their elected representatives. We can, of course, provide incentives, increase interest, and provide opportunities from here. For example, we should perhaps have significantly more support for trade union education; I would think that would be a good thing to get more people to want to engage. That is one example, but there are many things to do.

Working environment and working hours

But I do not understand why it is suggested in this chamber that we should start interfering with which representatives voluntary associations appoint.

(Applause)

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Leila Ali Elmi (MP)

Madam Speaker! I shall only claim the correct reservations: 10 and 41.

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(A decision was to be taken on 25 April.)

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