Worker participation in Sweden

One of the last actions of the Social Democratic Government in Sweden, before its 44 year rule ended in September 1976, was to place a new industrial law on the statute book. It is called Medbestämmandelagen or MBL for short, which gives employees in Sweden — private and public — new rights of participation in decision making. It came into force on January 1st 1977. The recent publication of the Bullock Report, calling for legislation to put trade unionists on company boards affords an opportunity to examine the new Swedish law and to update the situation outlined in my article on this subject in this journal in December 1973.