Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees


The Confederation of Professional Employees is a national trade union centre, the umbrella organisation for 13 trade unions in Sweden that organise professional and other qualified employees in both the private and the public sectors. The affiliated trade unions represent about 1.1 million employees. In 2018, the TCO affiliated unions made up 37% of all active trade union members in Sweden, making the confederation the second largest of Sweden's three major confederations. The largest TCO affiliate is Unionen with 551,000 active members in 2018. TCO is independent and not affiliated to any political party in Sweden.

History

TCO is the product of two confederations that merged in 1944. The older organisation was the Confederation of Employees founded in 1931 by seven private sector white collar unions representing 20,000 workers. The second organisation was the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees which was founded in January 1937 by eight public sector unions representing 38,000 workers. The two confederations merged in 1944, adopting the name TCO, bringing together 40 trade unions representing 180,000. After World War II membership in the affiliated unions grew rapidly to more than half a million by 1965.

Affiliates and membership

in Sweden has been at one of the highest levels in the world, peaking around 85% in the mid-1980s, but since declining to around 70% in 2015. In general, the decline in union density in Sweden has been faster among blue-collar workers and slower among white-collar workers. Between 1990 and 2015, the rate of unionisation of white-collar workers fell from 80.5% to 72%, but for blue-collar workers, the fall was from 82% to 63%.
Active
Members		Women
Men
StudentsRetiredChange
Unionen538 845235 892302 95346 40663 8881 134
Teachers' Union168 378140 61527 76330 19335 8461 841
Vision137 08298 24638 83618 25839 6253 330
Association of Health Professionals91 27282 2549 01810 51312 5341 320
Union of Civil Servants66 92341 48825 4357 93520 356178
Financial Sector Union26 36516 04710 3182 8413 760710
Police Union18 7816 08112 7001 7222 886338
Forena13 1107 4125 6981031 200107
Union of Journalists11 4846 0335 4517282 826539
Union for Theatre, Artists and Media6 3223 5702 7522221 8788
Union of Civilian Employees in the Defence Forces2 8101 1541 65601 12411
Swedish Union of Professional Musicians1 3946067884633620
TULL-KUST1 7947071 08731 79382
Forest and Agricultural Service Union57617340324218
TOTAL1 085 136640 278444 858118 983188 0741 932
59%41%8.5%13.5%0.2%

The Forest and Agricultural Service Union merged with Unionen on 1 June 2019.

TCO Certified

TCO owns the non-profit orgainisation TCO Development. TCO Development owns and develops the international sustainability certification TCO Certified. TCO Certified is a sustainability certification for IT products in offices and data centers worldwide. TCO Certified is available for office IT products: displays, notebooks, tablets, smartphones, desktops, all-in-one PCs, projectors, headsets, and data center products: network equipment, data storage products and servers. Certified products must meet comprehensive environmental and social criteria throughout the life cycle. For instance, factories where certified products are made must follow criteria on working hours, working environment and wages. Products must meet criteria for energy efficiency, ergonomic design and limited hazardous substance content.

Footnotes