Does remote work weaken trade unions?

Published 9 February 2022

In his article "Does remote work weaken trade unions?*" Anders Kjellberg, Professor of sociology, discusses how the balance of power in the labour market is changed when working from home increases in society. He also writes about the new trade union issues that distance working raises in industries where it is widespread. Those affected are primarily white-collar workers in both the private and public sectors.

*Anders Kjellberg's article is written in Swedish. "Does remote work weaken trade unions?" is a translation from the original "Försvagar distansarbetet facket?".

The Swedish article can be downloaded here from Lund University's research portal

The article is the first in the TCO-think tank Futurion's new series Power Analysis (Maktanalys) on the theme "How does power balance change in the labour market when we work from home to a large extent? Does this development lead to greater freedom for the individual or do we become weaker when we are fysically divided?" (editor's translation).

The Swedish article can also be read on futurion.se

Learn more about the think tank on futurion.se/futurion-in-english

Anders Kjellberg has also written about the consequences of increased distance work in a debate article in the trade union members’ magazine "Kollega" .

Read the article (in Swedish) on Lund University's research portal portal.research.lu.se

Or read the article (in Swedish) "Anställda nyckeln när framtidens kontor skapas" (Employees the key when the offices of the future are created) on kollega.se