An employee organisation required the production company of the Swedish version of the TV-show IDOL to enter into a collective bargaining agreement. The production company refused. In response, the employee organization produced a notice of industrial actions. The production company replied that the industrial actions were unlawful and in violation of the peace obligation, and that the contestants on the TV-show should not be considered as employees. The employee organisation brought an action to the Labour Court and demanded confirmation that the industrial actions were lawful and could be imposed by an interim decision. The Labour Court did not consider the production company’s objections to be sufficient reasons to prohibit the industrial actions. Therefore, it declared that the employee organisation was free to take industrial action against the production company up until the final ruling of the case. Thus, the IDOL contestants were considered to be employees.
Sweden