The gendered wage gap in the blue-collar sector : An urging to the collective organization of the blue-collar unions

Abstract: This thesis will handle the gendered wage gap in the blue-collar sectors and how the blue-collar unions collective organization (from here on referred to as LO) has handled this issue. In the Swedish labour market the unions and the employers’ organizations negotiate terms and conditions of employment that result in legally binding collective agreements. Within the blue-collar sector wages are to a large extent negotiated on this level and the blue-collar unions coordinate within LO on which questions to focus on in the negotiations with the employers. But during 2015 the unions within LO were not able to agree and the coordination failed (Medlingsinstitutet, MI, 2017). The main issue was disagreement on how to handle low wages and value discrimination. To understand the split during 2015, the reader needs to understand the background and the deeply rooted norms within LO and how the Swedish labour market is organized. Therefore this thesis is divided into three parts. The first part describes historical aspects of how the Swedish labour market has developed with focus on women’s salaries. The second part looks at how LO has chosen to handle the gendered wage gap during the years 2004-2012. The last part will be a critical discourse analysis of articles handling the failed coordination in 2015.