Salary
Below you will find information about the salary setting process at Linnaeus University. This includes the ongoing and previous salary review, first for doctoral students and teaching assistants, followed by the process for other Saco-S affiliated members. For the latter, reference is made to the salary policy and salary criteria available at the university, an excerpt from the local agreement for the most recent salary setting, an evaluation of the RALS 2024 salary setting process, and a link to "Saco lönesök".
Salary Review for Doctoral Students and Teaching Assistants
There is a special local collective agreement for doctoral students and adjuncts. A little over a week into February, the trade unions that conclude agreements for doctoral students (Saco-S and OFR/S) reached an agreement with the employer and the new doctoral salaries that apply retroactively from 1 January 2025. Payment of the new salaries will take place in March. You can access the current agreement via the link below (in Swedish):
The work on the upcoming salary review for doctoral students, which will apply from the turn of the year 2025/2026, is planned to begin in the fall of 2025.
Salary Review for Other Saco-S Members
The RALS 2024 salary review for other Saco-S affiliated members has been completed. A new agreement that regulates the salary for those members who disagreed with the employer's proposal for a new salary was signed in early June 2025. In addition to the agreed salaries, the agreement includes an appendix outlining measures the parties intend to develop in the next salary review (see Appendix 2). During the autumn, we will continue the work of developing the salary setting process, among other things by developing both a joint action plan together with the employer, as well as individual action plans for those members who have repeatedly disagreed with the employer about new salaries. In recent years, there has been an additional appendix with content that the Saco-S association believes needs to be improved regarding salary setting - but where the employer does not have the same opinion (see appendix 3). You can find these appendices, regarding the salary review 2024, via the link below (in Swedish):
Protokoll nya löner 2024 (bilaga 2 och bilaga 3)
As a basis for the salary setting that takes place at the university, an agreement is signed between the Saco-S association and the employer, which aims to regulate the salary setting process. The work of developing such an agreement will only be done when the salary review RALS 2024 is completed. The new agreement will probably be for one year and in our opinion will not contain any significant changes in relation to the previous agreement. We expect to have an agreement in place during August. Via the link below you can reach the agreement for the previous salary setting process RALS 2024 so far (in Swedish):
Överenskommelse RALS-processen 2024
Several salary setting managers have already started the salary setting discussions and this work will be intensified after the holidays. The first salary setting discussions must be completed by September 30th at the latest. The discussion must focus on your performance and your responsibilities during the period from April 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025. A second salary setting discussion must also be carried out by the end of November at the latest, where you will be offered a new salary that you must decide on based on your manager's objective justification based on the applicable salary criteria. The new salary will apply (retroactively) from October 1, 2025. In the event of disagreement, a third meeting can also be held. For those who disagree with their manager about the new salary proposal even after a third meeting, the new salary will be determined in a collective negotiation.
In accordance with the agreements of recent years, the salary-setting manager now participates in the collective negotiation (unlike earlier years when only HR representatives were present.). This approach was used for everyone who disagreed with the employer about the new salary that was included in the collective negotiation in 2024. Salary-setting managers were then asked to develop their justification for the salary setting. Based on that conversation, Saco-S has put forward arguments for a higher salary increase for everyone, based on, among other things, the employer's sometimes vague justifications in relation to salary criteria and that there has been a discrepancy between performance and the new salary that was proposed
Salary Mapping and Gender Equality
The employer is also obliged to conduct an annual salary survey where salary differences between women and men should be in focus. A fundamental idea in this work is that unreasonable salary differences between women and men should be discovered and that future salary reviews should/should address them. That work began in the fall of 2024 and was supposed to be completed at the turn of the year 2024/2025, but unfortunately the work has been paused by the employer. We have no information about when that work will resume.
Resources and Support for the 2025 Salary Review (RALS 2025)
As support for the upcoming salary review (RALS 2025), we refer to a link on the SULF website (SULF is the Saco-S union at the university with the most members and is therefore our contact union – from which we take support in union matters) that deals with salary and salary setting, which among other things contains a couple of films and other information with tips for salary setting. You can access films and other information via the link below:
https://sulf.se/jobb-lon-och-villkor/lon-och-lonessattande-samtal/
The last time the Saco-S association had a members' meeting about the salary process and salary-setting talks was in early October 2024. We do not expect any significant changes in the salary-setting process that will result in new salaries from October 1, 2025. A link to the PowerPoint presentation used in that meeting is provided below. It outlines the salary-setting process both generally and specifically for the university (in Swedish):
Lönesättande samtal inom Saco-S (2024)
Upcoming Webinars
At lunchtime on September 17 and 18, SULF will hold webinars about salary and salary-setting. The first of these will be held in Swedish and the second in English. Links with further information and registration details are available below:
https://sulf.se/kalender/webbinarium-lon-och-loneforhandelingar/
https://sulf.se/kalender/webinar-salary-and-salary-negotiations/
Additional Background on Salary Policy
Salary-setting at the university is also governed by a national framework agreement for the state sector (RALS) signed between Saco-S and the Swedish Employers' Agency. The agreement was last revised on October 1, 2024. The changes in content from previous agreements are limited, but the ambition has been to emphasize the long-term perspective and to clarify the structure and language. You can access the agreement via the following link (in Swedish):
In addition to this, several local agreements at the university relate to salary and compensation. In addition to doctoral students and teaching assistants, there is a local agreement on salary for hourly TA staff. In addition, there is, among other things, a local agreement on unsocial hours compensation for teachers and postdoctoral fellows. You can access the local agreements via the link below:
https://lnu.se/en/medarbetare/employed-at-lnu/steering-documents/
For a few years now, the salary criteria at the university have included criteria that apply to all employees, as well as more in-depth criteria for teachers and researchers, for technical and administrative staff and for managers. You can access, among other things, the salary policy and current salary criteria via the link below:
https://lnu.se/en/medarbetare/employed-at-lnu/salary-and-allowances/lonesatting/
The Saco-S association has compiled evaluations of the salary setting process based on the results of member surveys during the last eight salary audits. The latest evaluation (RALS 2024) contains comparisons of results from previous salary audits and brief comments on these. You can access the RALS 2024 evaluation via the link below (in Swedish):
Evaluation RALS 2024 (ver. 250627)
On a national level, SULF has conducted an evaluation of the salary setting process at colleges and universities in 2023. You can access the report “Salary setting talks as a salary setting model in the higher education sector – evaluation” via the link below (in Swedish):
To gain insight into salary levels, members of a Saco-S-affiliated union, can use “Saco Lönesök” tool, available (in Swedish) at:
https://www.saco.se/yrkesliv/lon/saco-lonesok/
If you have any questions regarding salary and salary setting, please feel free to contact one of the members of the Saco-S salary negotiation team:
Karina Petersson (karina.petersson@lnu.se)
Gunilla Gunnarsson (gunilla.gunnarsson@lnu.se)
Jan Andersson (jan.andersson@lnu.se)
Updated: 2025-06-27