MBL och utvecklingsavtalet : samverkansförhandlingar i företag

Sammanfattning: The subject of the thesis is negotiations and co-operation between employer and trade-union organizations at company level within the private sector. The employer is, according to the Co-determination Act (MBL), obliged to negotiate with the trade unions before decisions are made concerning major company and labour management issues. According to the Efficiency and Participation Agreement (UVA) the negotiations can be substituted by co-operation in bipartite participation groups, projects etc. The significance of MBL and UVA for how the parties handle conflicts and how they co-operate in connection with different kinds of changes is studied. Further more, the significance of the structural prerequisites of the parties' actions is examined. The rule system is studied from four perspectives: a historic, a legal positivistic, a user and a sociology of law perspective.The company is seen as an arena for the conflict between an economic and a social system of actions. These systems are connected with the interest of the employer as well as the interest of the employee. The labour law intervenes in this conflict by way of promoting values which refer to the latter interest. An analysis of the parties interactions is made based on a theory about conflicts of interests, goals and values. When conflicts of interests arise the parties negotiate without exception, for example when they are faced with dismissals. In other cases the conflicts are vague and they are manifested as conflicts of goals or values, for example in connection with changes in the labour organization and when new technology is introduced. In these situations the parties co-operate in bipartite participation groups etc. Especially in management issues the decisions and the parties' actions are affected by the structure of society and the logic of business economics which guide the employer's actions.The function of law in connection with different types of changes is analysed. MBL regulates only the procedures for the parties' interaction and thus, does not affect the contents of the decisions. Conflicts arising between the parties are transformed into conflicts of values concerning how the co-determination as a value should be promoted. In certain cases there are, however, material rules in law or agreements which govern the actions and which affect the contents of the decisions. UVA states the common values and goals of changes in the labour organization, introduction of new technology and issues concerning the company’s economy and resources. One function of the agreement is that conflicts between the parties concerning these changes are transformed into conflicts of goals.