Game companies open to collective bargaining agreement, Pourmokhtari receives further Liberal leadership nominations and Swedish prisons are filling up. Here’s Sweden’s news on Tuesday.

Swedish game companies open to collective bargaining agreement

Two of Sweden’s largest game companies, Massive Entertainment and Sharkmob, want to join together with other companies in the gaming industry to create a specialised collective bargaining agreement.

“We’re taking this seriously and see it as the start of an important journey,” Massive’s CEO Thomas Andrén told the TT newswire. Massive is home to around 700 employees.

According to Andrén, employees and unions have been asking for an agreement for some time.

“We’ve been talking to the unions for years and what we’re seeing now is a result of those discussions. The collective bargaining agreements which are already out there don’t really fit us, and that’s why we can see a need for a tailor-made agreement for our industry,” he said, adding that a collective bargaining agreement would also make employers more attractive.

There are around ten different companies in the discussion group, along with local and regional unions.

Swedish vocabulary: ett skräddarsytt avtal ‒ a tailor-made agreement

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Romina Pourmokhtari receives two more nominations for Liberal leadership

Two more local Liberal Party associations ‒ Dalarna and Jönköping ‒ have nominated 29-year-old climate minister Romina Pourmokhtari to be the party’s new leader, taking over from outgoing Johan Pehrson who announced his plans to step down earlier this year.

She now has the support of the party’s local associations in the above areas, as well as Västerbotten, Kronoberg, Jämtland, Skaraborg and Södermanland. On top of that, the party’s youth wing (LUF) and student association have also given her their support.

The three largest associations, Stockholm, Skåne and Western Sweden, can sway the vote as they are home to almost 60 percent of the members who will vote at the party’s EGM in June. They have told the TT newswire that they do not plan to announce their candidate until then.

Other names in the running include schools minister Lotta Edholm, as well as Liberal MPs Erik Ullenhag and Nina Larsson. The successful candidate needs to win at least 50 percent of the votes.

Swedish vocabulary: förbund ‒ association, federation or league

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Extremely high pressure on Swedish prison service

Sweden’s prisons and pre-trial detention centres are filling up fast, and the Prison and Probation Service (Kriminalvården) expects that all cells which can be occupied by two people will be filled by the end of the year, P4 Jönköping reports.

Almost all of the cells in prisons and pre-trial detention centres already have two occupants, and visitation rooms have been turned into cells. Kriminalvården is already exploring other opportunities while it waits for new cells to be ready, such as adding a third occupant to cells, housing prisoners abroad, converting healthcare facilities into cells or using temporary barracks inside facility grounds.

Torbjörn Nyberg, head of capacity at Kriminalvården, warns that overcrowding increases the risk of conflicts.

“The facilities are built for half the number of detainees, so it’s tight finding places for people to sit and eat, common areas, access to toilets and showers. It gets crowded and that increases the risk of friction,” he told P4.

Swedish vocabulary: dubbelbelagda ‒ literally ‘double occupied’, in this sense two people to one cell

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Sweden’s foreign minister condemns Israel’s plans to ‘take control’ of the Gaza Strip

Swedish foreign minister Maria Malmer Stenergard has condemned Israel’s plans to “take control” of the Gaza Strip, saying that they are against international law.

“If this means annexation, it is against international law. Sweden stands firm in its belief that Gaza’s territory must not be changed or reduced,” she said.

She also urged Israel to allow a resumption of humanitarian aid to Gaza, as the World Health Organization warned that two million people were starving in the territory.

“In our talks, we have repeatedly urged Israel’s government to allow unhindered humanitarian access and distribution in line with humanitarian principles,” she said.

“A ceasefire and an end to hostilities are needed, and hostages must be released ‒ not more statements or plans from the Israeli government that exacerbate the situation for civilians in Gaza.” (AFP)

Swedish vocabulary: strider mot folkrätten ‒ against international law