Swedish Trade Unions and Economic and Monetary Union

Abstract

As in 1994 on the question of European Union (EU) membership, there is a split between transnational sector unions supporting European Monetary Union (EMU) and national production sector unions rejecting it. Interestingly, however, transnational production sector unions, as well as trade union confederations, no longer combine their support for membership with a strong emphasis on Europe-wide cooperation and the demand for further development of the Social Dimension. A neo-Gramscian perspective amended with a strategic-relational approach to the state is used for the analysis. While the split in the labour movement on EMU can be explained through a reference to the impact of globalization, the renewed focus of transnational labour on the Swedish form of state is due to the re-strengthened cooperation with capital at the national level and a strong economic performance of Sweden in the late 1990s as well as in 2000 and 2001.