Values and mission

The SAK-affiliated trade union movement is a movement for equal opportunities, rights and duties for all employees: young and old, men and women.
Photo: Patrik Lindström

The mission of the SAK trade union movement is to improve the welfare, living standards and democratic participation of employees and to promote a fair and equitable society.

Values

In its 1991 programme of principles SAK specified its values as liberty, solidarity, equity, democracy and peace. While these values remain essential to the SAK trade union movement, further work was done in 2010 to express them in a more modern form. The values of SAK were clarified as:

Human dignity at work

The SAK trade union movement must work for a more humane working world that provides security – especially in a rapidly changing world – decent work and jobs, adequate and equitable remuneration, more meaningful work and greater job satisfaction.

Equality before the law

Employees and ordinary people must be equal before the law, enjoying equity regardless of individual differences. This equality must be promoted not only at work, but also in society as a whole and in the work of the trade union movement.

Defending the weaker party

The SAK trade union movement takes the side of the weaker party, especially in the world of work. The movement stands united on behalf of the disadvantaged, emphasising freedom from discrimination and the right to participate in the world of work, in society as a whole, and in the work of the trade union movement. The SAK trade union movement has the capacity, desire and strength to intervene when employees experience injustice.