On 1 June 2017, Sweden repealed key restrictive provisions of the 'lex Laval' legislation that had been enacted in 2010 in response to the CJEU's Laval ruling (LABOUR-LEGAL-001). The 2017 reform deleted the so-called 'rule of proof' (bevisregeln), which had required that industrial action against an employer be considered unjustifiable if the employer could prove that the conditions workers were striking over were equivalent to those in the relevant Swedish collective agreement. Under the new rules, Swedish trade unions can again take industrial action to compel foreign service providers to sign Swedish collective agreements for their posted workers, even if the foreign employer can demonstrate equivalent terms in a foreign agreement. The reform was enacted under the Swedish Social Democrat–Green coalition government and was supported by the Swedish trade union movement (LO, TCO, Saco). The European Commission did not initiate infringement proceedings against the 2017 reform, suggesting that the post-Lisbon legal framework — including Article 28 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (right to collective action), the revised Posted Workers Directive (2018/957), and ongoing CJEU jurisprudence — provides space for Member States to protect collective-bargaining systems within EU law.
Heimild
Eurofound — Sweden: The repeal of Lex Laval
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The 2017 repeal demonstrates that Nordic systems can push back against CJEU rulings within EU membership, but it does not imply that all Laval-era restrictions have been undone — the Posted Workers Directive's framework still constrains how minimum rates of pay can be enforced against posted workers. Caveats: (1) the repeal was politically contested and could be reversed by future Swedish governments; (2) similar restoration has not occurred in all EU member states with comparable collective-bargaining models; (3) the Posted Workers Directive's 2018 revision (2018/957) requires equal pay for equal work for posted workers, which addresses some of the original concerns from the Swedish union side; (4) the case is sometimes cited as evidence that 'the EU does not destroy Nordic models' and sometimes as evidence that 'Nordic models survive only via constant legal-political struggle' — both readings have empirical support.
Notuð í greiningum (2)
Er Kristrún Frostadóttir viljandi að reyna að leiða þjóðina inn í ESB? Vísir
- Óstutt Andmælir Við ESB-aðild gætu verkalýðsfélög aðeins boðað verkföll á þeim forsendum að meðlimir hefðu skilað meira en aðrir til þjóðarbúsins
Í Evrópusambandinu eru réttindi verkafólks á forsendum markaðarins Vísir
- Að hluta staðfest Andmælir Fjórfrelsi Evrópusambandsins hefur leitt til þess að réttindi verkafólks hafa molnað.