Unga och äldre fokus vid social dialog i Stockholm

Solweig Larsson, central ombudsman på Livs, och Anna Nordin, förhandlingschef på Livsmedelsföretagen, inledde och pratade bland annat om yrkesintroduktionsanställningar och förbättrade möjligheter till deltidspension.

Irene Wennemo, statssekreterare i arbetsmarknadsdepartementet, var inbjuden som talare och gick grundligt igenom både den svenska modellen och de möjligheter och utmaningar som finns på svensk arbetsmarknad.

En styrka på den svenska arbetsmarknaden är det faktum att kvinnors sysselsättningsgrad är hög i en europeisk jämförelse. Starkt bidragande till detta är både den utvecklade barnomsorgen och skattesystemet. En annan styrka är att sysselsättning bland äldre ökar, bland annat till följd av förbättrad arbetsmiljö och rehabiliteringsåtgärder. Irene Wennemo pekade också på att omställningen mitt i livet blivit allt mer effektiv, och hur parternas samarbete bidragit till denna positiva utveckling.

Irene Wennemo pekade på utmaningen om att kunna etablera sig på arbetsmarknaden. En väg som både kan vara utdragen och lång för såväl unga som för de som kommit till Sverige relativt nyligen.

Här följer ett gemensamt pressmeddelande från EFFAT och FoodDrinkEurope efter konferensen. (På engelska.)

Bringing in new talents and managing ageing workforce – two sides of the same coins

Food and Drink Employers and Unions gather in Stockholm to discuss the attractiveness of their industry as crucial to the future success of the EU economy.

Stockholm, 4-5 June 2015 – Over two days of panel debates and interactive workshops, EFFAT and FooddrinkEurope, social partners in the food and drink industry, met in Stockholm to discuss some of the challenges of their sector’s employability, including the attractiveness for young new talents, the managing of its ageing workforce and the participation of untapped groups in their industry labour pool.

On the back of the EU-funded project ‘Bringing in new talent and managing an ageing workforce; two sides of the same coins – implementing good practices for a more attractive food and drink sector’, the consultation seminar featured the Swedish labour model as internationally renowned for high levels of union density and collective agreement coverage, few conflicts, and high female labor participation rates.

Best practices of social dialogues between independent social partners and the government was at the center of the intervention of Irene Wennemo, Swedish Secretary of State at the Swedish Labour Ministry who, alongside, detailed the peculiarity of her country’s educational and pension model.

Presenting successful Swedish joint initiatives and good practices on recruiting news talents in the Food and Industry sector, Anna Nordin from the Swedish Food Federation, a member of FooddrinkEurope said: ‘Swedish industry has a new model for part time retirement available for employees from the age of 60. The purpose is to offer a possibility to prolong working life and through that the earning of pension. It also facilitates transfer of knowledge from the more experienced workforce to new young employees’.

Alongside Solweig Larsson, from the Swedish Food Workers Union and member of EFFAT, pointed out: ‘Introduction employments are important to recruit young people with technical skills to the food industry. By mapping the need for competence in the industry and by creating a validation method, untapped group have increased possibilities to be employed in the sector’.

During the seminar successful workshops brought together employers and unions in constructive exchanges on attracting new talents and managing an ageing workforce in the European Food&Drink sector.

Further to the publication of a report on the seminar, the output of the project will be the release of a toolbox of options for companies and trade unions and workers’ representatives in the EU food and drink industry built upon examples of good practices in Member States together with recommendations.