Negotiations with Klarna collapsed - now what?
Negotiations at Klarna for a collective bargain agreement came to a standstill on Monday. "It takes two parties to have something to negotiate about," says Martin Wästfelt, Unionen's Chief Negotiator.
Publicerad 23 okt. 2023
On Monday, Unionen chose to terminate the negotiations with Klarna on a collective agreement, as reported by the worklife newspaper Kollega - after eight months of negotiations.
The news was soon picked up by several major newsrooms, like Breakit, Dagens Industri, Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet and TT.
"We have reached a point where there are no more issues to discuss, and we had to step away from the negotiations. Our demand for a collective agreement remains, but there's nothing more to talk about. It takes two parties to have something to negotiate about," says Martin Wästfelt, Union's Chief Negotiator, to Kollega.
The major stumbling block has been the issue of employees' influence in the workplace, concludes Kollega.
"Klarna's stance is that - for reasons inexplicable to us - they believe that a collective agreement hampers employee influence, while our perspective of course is the exact opposite”, says Martin Wästfelt, who then summarizes eight months of negotiations:
"It hasn't been a complete standstill; we've had discussions on substantive matters like pension issues, for instance. However, there has been a desire from Klarna's side to prolong the process."
What happens now, will this lead to conflict?
"That is our last resort and an important tool. But we won't reveal our next steps right now. Our goal is not to engage in a conflict, but it's a necessary means – if required."
Read the whole text in Kollega (in Swedish) here.
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