The Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (Swedish: Tjänstemännens Centralorganisation, TCO) is a national trade union centre, the umbrella organisation for eighteen trade unions in Sweden that organise professional and other qualified employees within both the private and the public sectors. The affiliated trade unions gather in total about 1.3 million employees.
This makes the organization the second biggest of Sweden's three major trade union confederations. The biggest, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen i Sverige or LO), mainly organize "blue collar" workers, and has links to the Swedish Social Democratic Party. By contrast, the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees has no connections to any political party in Sweden.
The current president is Eva Nordmark, who took office in May 2011. She is a former president of the Swedish Union of Local Government Officers ("SKTF").
The Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees traces its origins back to the Confederation of Employees (De Anställdas Centralorganisation or DACO) founded in 1931. An organization for public sector employees called the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees was founded in 1937. The two organizations merged into one in 1944, taking the name of the latter. After World War II membership in the affiliated unions rose rapidly, from 100 000 in 1944 to more than half a million in the mid sixties.
Swedish unions have traditionally had a high organisation rate. Today about 85% of "white collar" workers are members of a trade union, setting Sweden apart from most European countries, where "blue collar" workers have been the main target for unionization.
Read more about Swedish Confederation Of Professional Employees: TCO Labeling, Affiliates
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