MOM strengthens whistleblower protection at Sweden’s largest bus company

Nobina, Sweden’s largest bus company, is affiliating with the newly instituted employee representative counsel, known as MOM (medarbetarombudet), in order to strengthen whistleblower protection for employees.

Nobina’s employees in Sweden and at Swebus may as of today turn to an independent employee representative counsel – a unit that is completely independent of the company.

"Because Nobina operates in the borderland between a market economy and public administration, we find an imbalance in the law. Employees in the public sector have adequate whistleblower protection, but our staff that come under the Swedish Companies Act do not. Through MOM, we are not changing the law, but in essence Nobina employees enjoy better protection," says Peter Hagert, HR manager at Nobina.

MOM was newly instituted on Nobina’s initiative. Ragnar Norbäck, CEO of Nobina, emphasizes that Nobina’s affiliation with MOM should not be viewed as a replacement for the current channels in place, but rather as a supplement. Trade union representatives at Nobina also support the initiative of MOM being available as an extra channel for employees.

"Nobina is a company run according to strong values. Respect for customers, public transport authorities and colleagues is key in a business such as ours. Legislation and regulations must be complied with at all levels. When we wished to increase transparency in these matters, we discovered that, besides established channels such as internal counsels and trade union channels, there was a need for an external channel for staff wishing to raise the alarm about irregularities in the group," says Ragnar Norbäck.

MOM anticipates 100–200 cases annually from Nobina. The ambition is to be able to manage more companies as early as in 2013, since focus on matters of integrity such as whistleblower protection has increased sharply in recent years.

Nobina’s staff in Sweden and at Swebus will be able to contact MOM as of today. Nobina plans the affiliation of other companies in the Nordic region during the course of next year.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Johan Ryd, MOM
Tel.: +46 708 52 67 91
johan@missinglinkgrc.se
www.missinglinkgrc.se

Ragnar Norbäck, CEO Nobina
Tel.: +46 (8) 410 650 00
ragnar.norback@nobina.com

Peter Hagert, HR Manager, Nobina
Tel.: +46 (8) 410 650 00
peter.hagert@nobina.com

Nobina Sweden and Swebus form part of the Nobina Group, the largest bus passenger transport company in the Nordic region. The operations include contractual regional traffic in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland as well as independently operated interregional travel through Swebus. The Nobina group has annual sales exceeding SEK 6 billion, operates 3,500 buses and, with more than 260 million passenger journeys per year, is a major passenger transport company in northern Europe. For more information, please visit www.nobina.com.