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organizations and the executive board. Between congresses decisions are officially made by the general council, 100 members chosen in the same way as the delegates to the congress. Since the general council meets only twice a year, however, actual power resides in the executive board which meets once a week and is composed of a chairman and nine members chosen by the congress.
Other labor organizations include the Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations (SACO), the National Federation of Government Employees (SR), and the Central Organization of Swedish Workers (SAC). The SACO, founded in 1947, grew by 6.2% during 1970 to 115,000 members in 30 unions, including professional associations. Of the total membership, 25,000 (mainly students) are not in the labor market, 49,000 are national government employees, 18,500 work for local governments, 15,000 are in private industry, and 7,500 are self-employed. The SR, founded in 1917, is comprised of middle and upper level national government officials in 34 affiliated unions. During 1970 it grew by a modest 3.2% to 19,289 members. The SAC, the syndicalist organization founded in 1910, barely held its own during 1970, claiming 23,482 members — a drop of 218 from 1969 — in 307 local associations.
Swedish labor organizations have played an active role in the international labor movement. They helped to establish the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) in 1945, but they withdrew 4 years later because of Communist control of WFTU and participated at that time in the formation of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). Both the LO and the TCO have maintained their affiliation with ICFTU and have supported it financially. Arne Geijer, president of the LO, was president of the ICFTU from 1957 to 1965. The labor organizations, with the exception of SAC, strongly support the various international trade secretariats and maintain close working relations with their counterparts in other Nordic countries.
5. Organization of management
Strong, centrally controlled unions with powerful political connections require similar employee organizations to maintain a collective bargaining balance. The most powerful management organization is the Swedish Employers Confederation (SAF), which was founded in 1902 in response to the growth of the trade unions. The SAF comprises 43 member federations, representing about 23,132 firms. During 1970, 1,602 firms dropped out and 139 merged. The member firms employ a total of 1,240,000 persons — 813,000 blue-collar and 427,000 white-collar workers.
The organization of the SAF is highly centralized, with the power of the central organization over its affiliates being somewhat greater than that of the LO over its members. The highest policy body is theoretically the general assembly, which is composed of 300 delegates chosen by the member associations. It meets only once a year, however, and it seldom makes the real decisions. The general council is smaller, with 72 members chosen by the associations, and meets regularly once a year and at other times when the executive board wishes to refer urgent matters to it. The executive board, composed of 26 members and 26 alternates, ordinarily meets once a month to make decisions on current matters, such as increasing membership, handling strikes and lockouts, and drawing up the annual budget. It has an executive committee, made up of five members and two alternates, which can act any time on minor matters or make stopgap decisions on more urgent problems, pending review by the executive board.
The SAF's major function is to conduct—not coordinate—collective bargaining for its members in the initial overall negotiations for a central agreement and to support member federations and individual employers in their bargaining efforts subsequent to its conclusion. The SAF's power to maintain a united wage front among all employers is secured by its ability to fine firms which breach its guidelines. Like the LO, however, the SAF's activities extend beyond the bargaining table. It maintains a staff of experts; it is normally represented on the more important government commissions; and it is consulted by legislative committees and administrative departments when policies affecting its interests are under consideration. The SAF is also very active in public relations and education. It publishes the biweekly Arbets-givaren, which goes mainly to members; a monthly, Industria, designed for the outside public; and an English-language magazine, Sweden Now, which is published 10 times a year. The SAF also supports the activities of several research institutes, which it helped found but which are legally independent of it (i.e., the Industrial Institute for Economic and Social Research and the Council for Personnel Administration). In addition, the SAF offers a number of management courses to the employees of its member firms. In 1968 more than 700 courses were attended by over 13,000 persons.
The Swedish Government owns, in whole or in part, a number of firms which until recently were all in the SAF. The Social Democratic government came under
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