Organising Tech in Sweden

About Organising Tech in Sweden

Organising Tech in Sweden is a limited podcast series exploring union organising in Swedish tech companies. Join us as we sit down with some of the people involved in the campaigns to win collective bargaining rights at two of Sweden's tech unicorns, Klarna and Spotify.

Publisher

Organising Tech in Sweden

Category

news · technology

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

5 Sept 2024

Latest episode

23 Oct 2025

Latest episodes

11 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   23 Oct 2025

   Compensation

   Friend of the podcast and finance geek Kim Öberg is back on the show, this time to walk us through two common forms of non-salary compensation in Sweden: restricted stock units (RSUs) and qualified employee stock options (QESOs). Kim introduces the important terminology needed to understand equity compensation and highlights the risk factors that workers are often unaware of. By the end of this episode, you'll have a list of important questions to ask your employer, financial advisor, and union, and of course you'll be singing along with Kim: pensionable, pensionable, pensionable salary! Be sure to subscribe to Kim's newsletter, newsletter.financialliteracy.se (https://newsletter.financialliteracy.se/), for more on these topics! Chapters: 01:00 - Introduction & Why This Matters 05:03 - Essential Terminology 10:30 - Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) Explained 11:09 - The Klarna RSU Story Begins 23:55 - When Values Plummet: The Tax Trap 39:05 - Stock Options & QESOs 55:03 - Understanding Risk: The Gambling Reality 1:04:53 - The Hidden Pension Impact 1:11:53 - Key Takeaways & Action Items To view full show notes, including transcripts, please visit theepisode page (https://orgtech.se/episodes/ep10-compensation/). Be sure to follow us on Twitter (https://x.com/orgtech_se), BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/orgtech-se.bsky.social), and Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@orgtech_se)! Produced by Hakuna Matata Produktion Cover art by Anya K. Jordan (https://anyakjordan.com/)@anyakjordan.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/anyakjordan.bsky.social) Theme music by Ptzery (https://soundcloud.com/ptzery)

2. 

   30 Nov 2024

   Organizing for Freedom

   Unionen negotiator Björn Larm shares insights from the five-year effort to sign a collective bargaining agreement with Apple Retail and introduces Unionen's new campaign, Frihet, empowering tech workers to organize for freedom.

3. 

   31 Oct 2024

   Organizing for Power

   Our guest this week is none other than Ethan Earle, General Coordinator for Organizing for Power, a training program for organisers that Ethan co-founded in 2019 alongside legendary organiser Jane McAlevey (may she rest in power). O4P has trained more than 40,000 people from 1,800+ organisations in 115 countries over the 5 years of its existance on the core fundamentals of organising and how to win more and win better in the campaigns that matter most. We recap the series and Ethan draws out vital lessons for organisers. We talk about what went wrong in the "shallow organising" campaigns of the 2000s and 2010s and what we've learned from them that has enabled recent victories like the United Auto Workers contract and the bright sparks of the Palestine solidarity movement. Ethan leaves us with a powerful call to action and an invitation to join the upcoming Organizing for Power Core Fundamentals training in February. Gather a group of 10 people, sign up, and let's start winning! Show notes: Jane McAlevey (https://janemcalevey.com/), labour organiser and author of four books. Organizing for Power is an online training programme for organizers worldwide. The next session of the Core Fundamentals course runs weekly from February 13th until March 20th, 2025. The registration deadline is February 2nd, 2025, and you need a group of 10 to join. Sign up here! (https://bit.ly/O4P-CF-About-2024) Follow Organizing for Power on Twitter at @o4p_global (https://twitter.com/o4p_global) Mariame Kaba (https://mariamekaba.com/) Vincent Bevins: "If We Burn (https://vincentbevins.com/book2/)" Shawn Fain (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Fain), president of the United Auto Workers Our conversation about how tech workers can resist AI will be published to this feed on November 21st. To view full show notes, including transcripts, please visit theepisode page (https://orgtech.se/episodes/ep08-o4p/). Be sure to follow us on Twitter (https://x.com/orgtech_se), BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/orgtech-se.bsky.social), and Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@orgtech_se)! Produced by Hakuna Matata Produktion Cover art by Anya K. Jordan (https://anyakjordan.com/)@anyakjordan.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/anyakjordan.bsky.social) Theme music by Ptzery (https://soundcloud.com/ptzery)

4. 

   24 Oct 2024

   Organising Games

   Hanneli Lindholm from Engineers of Sweden is here to talk about games! We look at the progress that has been made so far, what's going on in the mines of Mojang, how unions can cooperate internationally to ensure that Swedish unions can build on victories won on the other side of the globe, get into the nuts and bolts of how academic unions like Engineers of Sweden and the Swedish Association of Professional Scientists work together with broad-based unions like Unionen in individual workplaces, and of course talk a little about events unfolding in the Spotify campaign. And we have a delightful little surprise for you right at the top of the show! Show notes: For more on the successful campaigns at Bethesda and Blizzard's World of Warcraft team, check out Episode 236 of Tech Won't Save Us: Unionizing the Video Game Industry (https://techwontsave.us/episode/236_unionizing_the_video_game_industry_w_taylor_welling__kathryn_friesen) Swedish Court of Appeals rejects Spotify's exception to the night work ban (https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/spotify-slams-outdated-bureaucracy-in-sweden-as-it-moves-parts-of-250-jobs-from-its-home-market-after-court-ruling-over-night-shifts/) To view full show notes, including transcripts, please visit theepisode page (https://orgtech.se/episodes/ep07-games/). Be sure to follow us on Twitter (https://x.com/orgtech_se), BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/orgtech-se.bsky.social), and Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@orgtech_se)! Produced by Hakuna Matata Produktion Cover art by Anya K. Jordan (https://anyakjordan.com/)@anyakjordan.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/anyakjordan.bsky.social) Theme music by Ptzery (https://soundcloud.com/ptzery)

5. 

   17 Oct 2024

   The Local Club

   Sen Kanner, former chairperson of the Unionen club at Klarna and Henry Catalini Smith, former chairperson of the Unionen club at Spotify, are back to tell us all about what it takes to run a local union club. We look at what positions there are on the board, what the responsibilities of the chairperson are, how to get people engaged and involved, and how to be a leader without burning yourself out. Building a democratic workplace is hard (in fact, two kinds of hard), but for Sen and Henry, incredibly rewarding as well! Show notes: Article mentioned at 31:15 - All on the Unionen board gone from Klarna – ”cleared” (https://www.arbetsvarlden.se/all-on-the-unionen-board-gone-from-klarna-cleared/) Follow Kim on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kimoberg (https://linkedin.com/in/kimoberg) Follow Sen on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kannersen (https://linkedin.com/in/kannersen) Follow Henry on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/henrycatalinismith (https://linkedin.com/in/henrycatalinismith) To view full show notes, including transcripts, please visit the episode page (https://orgtech.se/episodes/ep06-board/). Be sure to follow us on Twitter (https://x.com/orgtech_se), BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/orgtech-se.bsky.social), and Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@orgtech_se)! Produced by Hakuna Matata Produktion Cover art by Anya K. Jordan (https://anyakjordan.com/) @anyakjordan.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/anyakjordan.bsky.social) Theme music by Ptzery (https://soundcloud.com/ptzery)

6. 

   10 Oct 2024

   The Union Perspective

   Per Holfve, an advisor with Naturvetarna (the Swedish Association of Professional Scientists), talks about how scientists fit into labour organising in tech, the importance of listening to both workers and employers when building an organising campaign, competing with Netflix for people's valuable free time, and combating gender and racial discrimination in the workplace. We get into how demographic changes in Sweden make it even more vital that unions champion the ideas of inclusion and respect for all people in order to defend against exploitation and racism. Per's overall message is that even though we're facing challenges from a more globalised labour market, we should be confident that if we pull together and keep going and going and going, we will be successful. Hope is a discipline, and we must remain disciplined! To view full show notes, including transcripts, please visit the episode page (https://orgtech.se/episodes/ep05-union/). Be sure to follow us on Twitter (https://x.com/orgtech_se), BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/orgtech-se.bsky.social), and Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@orgtech_se)! Produced by Hakuna Matata Produktion Cover art by Anya K. Jordan (https://anyakjordan.com/) @anyakjordan.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/anyakjordan.bsky.social) Theme music by Ptzery (https://soundcloud.com/ptzery)

7. 

   3 Oct 2024

   Organising Spotify

   Henry, founder of the Unionen club at Spotify, and Ralf, current vice chair of the club, tell the story of organising efforts at Spotify, educate us on organising strategies, and warn us against taking shortcuts. A CBA hasn't been won yet, but the saga of Spotify is far from over! To view full show notes, including transcripts, please visit the episode page (https://orgtech.se/episodes/ep04-spotify/). Be sure to follow us on Twitter (https://x.com/orgtech_se), BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/orgtech-se.bsky.social), and Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@orgtech_se)! Produced by Hakuna Matata Produktion Cover art by Anya K. Jordan (https://anyakjordan.com/) @anyakjordan.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/anyakjordan.bsky.social) Theme music by Ptzery (https://soundcloud.com/ptzery)

8. 

   26 Sept 2024

   The Swedish Model

   We're delighted to welcome former Klarna employee and labour law expert Kim back to the show to explain the Swedish Model (which we're assurred has nothing to do with ABBA). We discuss how it came to be, what makes it different to how labour regulations work in most countries, whether startups need collective bargaining agreements, and what lessons we can take from it and apply to other countries. To view full show notes, including transcripts, please visit the episode page (https://orgtech.se/episodes/ep03-swedish-model/). Be sure to follow us on Twitter (https://x.com/orgtech_se), BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/orgtech-se.bsky.social), and Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@orgtech_se)! Produced by Hakuna Matata Produktion Cover art by Anya K. Jordan (https://anyakjordan.com/) @anyakjordan.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/anyakjordan.bsky.social) Theme music by Ptzery (https://soundcloud.com/ptzery)

9. 

   19 Sept 2024

   Organising Klarna - Part 2

   We finish our conversation with Sen, Thomas, and Kim about how a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was won at Klarna. In this episode, we cover the impact of immigrant workers on organising, the impact of organising on organisers, and the impact of strikes on negotiations. All of this and a happy ending too! To view full show notes, including transcripts, please visit the episode page (https://orgtech.se/episodes/ep02-klarna-part2/). Be sure to follow us on Twitter (https://x.com/orgtech_se), BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/orgtech-se.bsky.social), and Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@orgtech_se)! Produced by Hakuna Matata Produktion Cover art by Anya K. Jordan (https://anyakjordan.com/) @anyakjordan.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/anyakjordan.bsky.social) Theme music by Ptzery (https://soundcloud.com/ptzery)

10. 

    12 Sept 2024

    Organising Klarna - Part 1

    We kick off Organising Tech in Sweden in style by recounting the story of how a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was won at Klarna, a major Swedish fintech. In fact, Klarna was the first unicorn in Sweden to be unionised (and probably the first unicorn in Europe as well)! To hear all about how this went down, your co-hosts Josh and Ray are joined by Thomas, the founder of the Klarna Unionen Club (a union "local", to use terminology that might be more familiar to US listeners); Sen, the chair of the club who won the bargaining agreement against the odds; and Kim, a former Klarna employee with extensive knowledge of Swedish labour law and market policy. This is part 1 of the conversation, which will be concluded in Episode 2. To view full show notes, including transcripts, please visit the episode page (https://orgtech.se/episodes/ep01-klarna-part1/). Be sure to follow us on Twitter (https://x.com/orgtech_se), BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/orgtech-se.bsky.social), and Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@orgtech_se)! Produced by Hakuna Matata Produktion Cover art by Anya K. Jordan (https://anyakjordan.com/) @anyakjordan.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/anyakjordan.bsky.social) Theme music by Ptzery (https://soundcloud.com/ptzery)

11. 

    5 Sept 2024

    Trailer

    Union organising seems to be in the air these days, as tech workers wake up and realise that they are, in fact, workers. Here in Sweden, it's no exception. Join us as we sit down with some of the people involved in organising two of Sweden's foremost tech unicorns, Klarna and Spotify. This is Organising Tech in Sweden. To view full show notes, including transcripts, please visit the episode page (https://orgtech.se/episodes/ep00-trailer/). Be sure to follow us on Twitter (https://x.com/orgtech_se), BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/orgtech-se.bsky.social), and Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@orgtech_se)! Produced by Hakuna Matata Produktion Cover art by Anya K. Jordan (https://anyakjordan.com/) @anyakjordan.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/anyakjordan.bsky.social) Theme music by Ptzery (https://soundcloud.com/ptzery)

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Apple Podcasts (US)

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