ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the LO (Landsorganisation i Sverige), the peak organisation of blue-collar workers, as a way of providing insight into the way ‘difference’ is dealt with among Swedish unions.2 Throughout the twentieth century, LO stood at the centre of the powerful Swedish union movement. It exercised leadership not only vis-à-vis its own unions but also the white-collar unions, especially those affiliated with the Tjänstemännens Centralorganisation (TCO). While by the end of the century, LO’s hegemony had been undermined by a variety of developments, the choices that it and its affiliates make continue to be of central importance for the Swedish union movement as a whole.
