THE SWEDISH-MUNICIPAL-WORKERS-UNION - A STUDY IN THE NEW POLITICAL UNIONISM

Previous examples of political unionism have focused on issues of publ ic and private economic management and the distribution of income betw een capital and labour. This article examines a union that has adopted a more fundamental political mission in not only defending the welfar e state against economic liberal subversion, but also in tackling the inequities of gender in work life that have so far survived comfortabl y with the orthodox reformist approach to pursuing gender equality in the labour market and society at large. In an integrated strategy to m eet these problems, inspired by the country's resurgent women's moveme nt, the Swedish Municipal Workers' Union-it is argued here-has imbued unionism with a new moral depth that goes to the core of current citiz enship issues in Western society, and by so doing it has taken the pol itical lead in the Swedish union movement, not least around institutio nalized strategies for work life reform.