Learn Swedish: Vem ska representera medarbetarna när facket förhandlar? - Who will represent the employees when the union negotiates?

Medarbetare (employee or coworker) is a Group 5 noun ending in -are. When making these words definite plural, Swedish drops the final -e before adding the -na suffix. This spelling change reflects how the word is actually pronounced in everyday speech, avoiding the clunky-sounding medarbetarena.

Does medarbetarna strictly mean 'the coworkers' or 'the employees'?

While it literally means 'the co-workers', Swedish workplaces heavily favor medarbetare as a polite, inclusive term for 'employees'. If you want to refer to the strict legal status of being employed, you would use de anställda, but in a sentence about unions and representation, medarbetarna is the standard modern corporate term.

Why does the sentence use ska instead of kommer att for 'will'?

We use ska here because the representation involves a choice, duty, or agreement. Someone is going to be actively appointed to do this. You use kommer att for future events that happen as a natural consequence or outside of human control, which doesn't fit the context of deliberately choosing a union representative.

What is the root of the word facket (the union)?