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GUJOURNAL 3 | 2014
employment photo: Johan Wingborg
What i s fixed -term em ploym ent? It is a collective term for time-limited or temporary employment. The general rule, according to the Swedish Employment Protection Act (LAS), is that one’s employment is for an indefinite-term colloquially it is usually called permanent employment. According §5 in LAS, a general fixedterm employment and a substitute position may be for a period of a maximum of two years each during a five-year period. One can thus employed on a temporary basis for a total of four years, if they alternate general fixed-term and substitute employment. If the employment exceeds the time limits, it becomes an indefinite-term (permanent) employment. That is what is commonly known as being “locked in” or having employment security.
true, according to Stefan Schedin. “Of course, a shortage of work may arise in connection with changes in the activities, but then in such case is important to follow the procedural rules that exist.” For the trade unions, the basic principle is indefinite-term employment. “But that does not mean it’s a job for life,” says Martin Selander. “Increased mobility is positive, but it must not be at the expense of employee security. It is good that there are positions that one can add to their CV, it is not reasonable that these can be stacked upon each other so that it can take up to ten years before one is deemed worthy of receiving tenure or other indefinite-term employment.” A common explanation for why so many are limited to limited-term positions, is that a large part of the research is dependent upon external funding. But Martin Selander thinks that if one can be guaranteed funding
There are various forms of time-limited employment: • general fixed-term employment • employment as a temporary substitute employment until the employee reaches age 67 • employment for a probationary period (for a maximum of six months) Within the higher education sector, there are special rules for visiting professors, adjunct professors, teachers employed in artistic disciplines, as well as for what is referred to as qualification positions for teachers (see below). The same applies to graduate students, teaching assistants, clerical assistants, research fellow, and clinical researchers. In addition, there is a national collective labour agreement dealing with time-
for two years, indefinite-term employment should be prioritised. Even more teachers should be recruited. “There is an over-cautiousness and it is not justifiable that faculties are operating with large surpluses in their educational programme. It is important to have a good long-term planning with its human resources.” Another complication is that the requirement of publically announcing and calling for applications for positions in a competition can sometimes be at odds with the right to be rehired based on prior employment. “It certainly is a difficult question,” admits Martin Selander. “The principle is that one should publically announce the position, but if an individual person has gone for a number of years in a limited-term or temporary employment situation, it is reasonable to say that he or she has gained the skills and experiences, and hence merited to obtain tenure or a similar indefinite-term position. The most important thing is that the process is done properly.” text: Allan Eriksson
limited employment of adjunct teachers (not professors) and postdocs (ordinarily for a maximum of two years, but it may be extended for another two years if there are special grounds). At GU there are two types of qualification positions. These are detailed in Teacher Appointment Regulations for Instructors at GU (which in turn is based on the Higher Education Regulation). 1) Assistant Senior Lecturer (giving provides opportunity to be considered for promotion to Senior Lecturer). 2) Research fellow (which does not provide the same opportunities for promotion). Overall, someone can be employed as Assistant Senior Lecturer and Research Fellow for a fixed-term limited to a maximum of four years.
The research and teaching staff share of those with a limited-term position (%) April 2009 Faculty
time-limited
permanent
share of limited-term %
Faculty of Science
224
181
55
Faculty of Social Sciences
158
245
39
Sahlgrenska Academy
506
393
56
Faculty of Education
88
237
27
Faculty of Arts
120
191
39
Faculty of Fine Applied Arts
127
103
55
School of Business
98
148
40
IT Faculty
25
22
53
Others
7 17 29
In total
1553
1537
50
April 2014 Faculty
time-limited
permanent
share of limited-term %
Faculty of Science
145
241
38
Faculty of Social Sciences
147
332
31
Sahlgrenska Academy
454
515
47
Faculty of Education
113
235
32
Faculty of Arts
116
249
32
Faculty of Fine Applied Arts
115
136
46
School of Business
91
173
34
IT Faculty
30
41
42
Others
6 20 23
In total
1217
1942
39
The data has been obtained from the payroll register and includes all of the research and teaching staff, aside from graduate students. The proportion those with limited-term employment, exluding qualification and postdocs) is currently at 30 percent.
Is the share of limited-term positions at the University of Gothenburg to high? GU Journal inquires of Vice-Chancellor Pam Fredman. My firm belief is that we must work towards achieving a good form of employment. This is one of our best competitive factors as a university, but even more so a quality issue. This means that we should only use fixed-term as a form of employment for the jobs that are unique to the university’s operations, such as doctoral studentships, postdocs and qualification positions. However, it is not intended to stack
various fixed-term positions on top of each other.” “I think we’ve come a long way at GU. That the share of fixed-term positions has decreased is an expression of that the issue has increasingly become a priority within the organisation. The University administration tracks and monitors the developments on an overall level and will raise this issue in different contexts.