c o n t i n u i t y a n d c o n t r ac t 187 One important example was the for the Metal Trade Agreement in 1905 (Sw. Verkstadsavtalet), which marked a triumph for the trade union movement and those employers who regarded the collective agreement as the best way to create peace on the labour market. Correspondingly it was a misfortune for those who tried to attain an individually based relationship between employers and workers.384Parallel with this gradual shift from toleration to recognition, the development of the terms of the contract of employment was partly transferred to take place within the framework of collective self-regulation.When revising its charter in 1905, the Swedish Employers’ Organisation (SAF) formulated its famous “section 23”, which stipulated that each collective agreement must expressly guarantee the employer’s right “to freely engage and dismiss workers, to direct and distribute work and to use workers from any union whatsoever or standing outside a union.”385 The stipulation was a reformulation of an arbitration decision from1900 concerning building workers in Stockholm. Furthermore, it had almost the same wording as a clause in “Septemberforliget”, which was the first Danish nationwide collective agreement from1899.These agreements reflect the fundamental historical compromise that underlies Nordic collective labour law: the employers’ prerogatives are accepted in return for trade union power.386 The matter was taken up in central negotiations in 1906 between SAF and the Swedish Confederation ofTrade Unions (LO). At the threat of a conflict, the parties reached the much-debated “December compromise”. LO recognised the employer’s right according to “section23”, mentioned above, while SAF accepted 384 Schiller 1967, p. 25. 385 “rätt att fritt antaga och avskeda arbetare, att leda och fördela arbetet och att begagna arbetare från vilken förening som helst eller stående utanför förening”.Westerståhl 1945, pp. 157-172; Schiller 1967, p. 41. 386 Schiller 1967, pp. 39-41.The same development occurred in Norway in1907. However, a similar clause about the employer’s right to hire, fire, direct and distribute work does not exist in other European countries. Nielsen 1996, pp. 18-19. See also Lohse 1963, pp. 64-77 and Fahlbeck 2002, pp. 99-100.
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