Magdalena Andersson was elected party chairman during the party congress for S in Gothenburg during the first weekend of November 2021. Her speech focused on welfare (then with a focus on the school being privatized), the the green transition and the fight against crime. Many interpreted her priorities as focusing more on fighting crime than on economic class equalization. It was worrying that good jobs for everyone did not end up as one of the priorities.
But the party congress is tough. It forced through that the pension contribution should be increased so that the pensions would rise. Not only would the school be privatized, but also large parts of healthcare would remain public.
Contribution versus work
The criticism against the new distribution policy is based on the fact that Magdalena Andersson wants that in order to receive financial assistance/social assistance, you must take a job with no salary other than the social assistance and that you must learn Swedish. Even now, the vast majority of immigrants want to learn Swedish. Blaming the immigrants can be counterproductive. Secondly, allowance is what you get if you do not work for a wage until you can work for a wage. If you work, you should have a real salary. How many jobs can you manage to apply for if you have to work for your social allowance?
The economy in society grows less if more people work for only the financial level of the social contribution. Many people run the risk of only being able to get work when they go on financial aid because otherwise it will be too expensive. The appropriate thing would have been to expand the public sector to create full employment.
It was also decided that there should be an employment agency in each municipality.
Investments in climate and infrastructure
Yesterday, the party congress decided that strategically important infrastructure with great climate benefits should be able to be loaned. S must review the fiscal policy framework earlier. Investments in society must be greatly increased to enable the goal that the climate will not be more than 1,5 degrees warmer than before industrialization. Investments are important not only for the companies or the upgrading of the railway, but also for creating work for everyone.
Loan financing is allowed for climate-friendly investments - a huge shift in economic policy that will enable more climate investments in the near term.
S is clearly in favor of introducing climate tariffs (or, a border adjustment mechanism) at the EU level, also a reform with enormous potential to increase the rest of the world's transition.
S shall push for a target for consumption-based emissions. This has long been a disgrace in the Swedish climate goals and it is high time that we also include the emissions from our consumption in our goals.
Investments must follow the climate goals.
The congressional guidelines state that S opposes market rents and wants to strengthen the tenant negotiation model.
Clear stance that the forest also has a central role in climate change as a carbon sink - an important line to draw before the party's negotiations on forest policy.
Better working conditions for many groups
It is a goal for Congress to make a decision that 90% of all employment in welfare must be permanent. Hope the goal doesn't just become symbolic.
S wants unregulated labor immigration to be tightened so that no jobs are exposed to unhealthy competition.
Safety and working conditions must improve for cultural workers.
Work clothes and work shoes must be paid for by the employer for Kommunal's groups.
Full-time must be the norm, but in order to reach full-time as the norm, S must work for a work environment that does not make the employees sick.
At the elderly care, there was a stop to minute schedules and shared rides.
Language education must be strengthened.
More public in healthcare
1177 shall be public.
Sweden's publicly run emergency hospitals, including university hospitals, must be protected against privatisation/sale.
Maternity care must be strengthened and national guidelines introduced for maternity care.
Stop aggressive advertising from healthcare companies.
Expand the basic and specialist education in healthcare and give more people the opportunity to specialize with pay during the education. Allocate resources to implement suggestions for improvements, directly from healthcare employees.
The suspension deduction must be investigated urgently in order to ensure that the risks of loss of income during illness do not affect different professional groups unfairly.
Congress decided that the public must take responsibility for the distribution of prescription drugs. Order and order also in the pharmacy system, that is.
Sharper writing about psychiatry.
Many were involved in the issue of high-cost coverage in dental care, much like in healthcare. There are the proposals of the editorial committee and we have good hope of a clear step in the right direction.
Election of party officials
Tobias Baudin, former chairman of Kommunal, who opposed the cuts to security and welfare that S has made in recent years, was elected party secretary for S. However, Baudin supports the restrictions in LAS that the S-MP government participated in as part of the January agreement.
The combative Gothenburg S profiles Jonas Attenius and Mattias Jonsson were elected to the S national party board on Sunday.
Mixed
Politicians have received a clear message to keep an arm's length distance from art and culture.
The pension provisions are to be increased, but it was rejected that no pensioners should be able to fall below the poverty line.
The party's Summary of congressional decisions.