ABSTRACT
The lo-saf agreements that are particularly relevant to questions of production and technological change in the firm are the works council agreement and the work study agreement. The Basic Agreement in 1938 between lo and saf marked a new epoch in employer-trade union relations in Sweden. It was soon followed by a spate of agreements relating to many aspects of industrial life involving labour-management co-operation not only at the industrial level but also at the place of work. An expansion of direct worker participation through increased daily co-operation between employees and front-line supervisors would supplement rather than supplant a well-developed formal system of trade union-employer co-operation. As a rule, national collective agreements in Sweden contain no provisions giving workers a right to participate in decision-making and the management of changes in work methods and organization in the plant or guarantees against loss of income owing to changing technology.
