Swedish Union for Service and Communications Employees

The Swedish Union for Service and Communications Employees (Swedish: Service- och Kommunikationsfacket, SEKO) is a trade union in Sweden.

SEKO

Swedish Union for Service and Communications Employees
Facket för Service och Kommunikation
Founded	14 May 1970
Headquarters	Stockholm
Location	Sweden
Members	72,156 (2018)[1]
Key people	Gabriella Lavecchia, president
Affiliations	LO, PSI, UNI
Website	www.seko.se

History

The union was founded on 14 May 1970, as the Swedish National Union of State Employees (SF). It resulted from the merger of eight unions:^[2][3]

• Employees' Union of State Power Stations
• Swedish Civil Administration's Employees' Union
• Swedish Defence Forces Civilian Employees' Union
• Swedish Post Union
• Swedish Prison Employees' Union
• Swedish Railway Employees' Union
• Swedish Road Workers' Union
• Swedish Tele Union

Like all its predecessors, the union affiliated to the Swedish Trade Union Confederation. On formation, it had 145,350 members, and the number grew to 161,794 in 1986. The National Association of Civil Servants in Prisons split away in 1973.^[2][3]

In 1995, the union became SEKO. The following year, the Swedish Sailors' Union merged in, then in 1997 the Swedish Association of Engine Drivers split away. By 2019, it had a membership of 70,818.^[2]

The union is divided into nine branches:

• Rail transportation
• Public administration
• Postal
• Roads & Railways
• Telecom
• Correctional treatment
• Energy
• Defence
• Maritime

Presidents

1970: Gustaf Kolare

1973: Lars-Erik Nicklasson

1984: Curt Persson

1995: Gunnar Erlandsson

1998: Sven-Olof Arbestål

2002: Janne Rudén

2017: Valle Karlsson

2021: Gabriella Lavecchia