The Ap local team Nidaro’s social democratic forum recently held its annual meeting. There, leader Trond Giske advocated stronger political control over the stream. He also urged the members to protest against the government’s electricity policy. Now the Giske local team is also going against a different practice in the Labor Party. Usually, the membership fee for paying members is distributed between the central Labor Party, the municipal party and the local teams. Nidaro’s social democratic forum wants the local membership money to go uncut to the local teams, instead of to Trondheim Arbeiderparti. – The quota is the only income the local teams have as fixed income, says Trond Giske. Money should go where the members are active A student member of the Labor Party forks out 150 a year in membership fees. Of these, NOK 60 goes to the central party, approx. NOK 50 to the municipal party and NOK 40 to the local team, explains Giske. The proposal to Nidaros will thus mean that the local team receives NOK 90, rather than NOK 40, per paying student member. Most local labor parties are organized as a municipal party, but in Trondheim there are 17 local teams under Trondheim Ap. – This is where member meetings, courses, seminars and social activities take place. Then we believe that the local part of the quota should go to where the members are active, says Giske. Little significance for the municipal party In 2022, Trondheim Ap introduced a trial scheme where the local teams received the local pot. For Giske’s local team, it meant between NOK 20,000-30,000 extra in income. The money was used, among other things, to carry out the Tranmæl festival and have a Christmas party for the members, says Giske. – Won’t this proposal damage the impact of Trondheim Ap? – It is not the main income for Trondheim Ap. In 2021, I think it accounted for less than 10 percent of Trondheim Ap’s income. It is not of great importance for their budget, says Giske. The proposal will be voted on at the annual meeting of Trondheim Ap next weekend. Leader Trond Giske during the annual meeting of Nidaro’s social democratic forum at the beginning of February. Photo: Bjarte Johannesen / news Tried out earlier Hanne Moe Bjørnbet is a manager in Trondheim Ap. She says it is entirely up to the annual meeting to decide whether the proposal should be accepted. Bjørnbet says many of the local teams think the trial scheme from last year worked well, in that they got more money to run activities for. For the Trondheim Labor Party, such a distribution of membership fees is manageable, says the leader. She adds that Trondheim Ap has several sources of income, including municipal support. Hanne Moe Bjørnbet, head of Trondheim Ap, together with Trond Giske. The picture was taken during the annual meeting of Trondheim Ap, February 2020. Giske has Bjørnbet’s son on her lap. Photo: Bjarte Johannesen / news – What do you think the chances are for a majority for this proposal? – I will not be surprised if the proposal goes through in one way or another. Whether all the money Trondheim Ap receives, or part of it, goes to the local teams, we’ll see. I think the experiences with this are so good that the chance of the annual meeting adopting one or another variant of it is quite high, says Bjørnbet.
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Nidaro’s social democratic forum will keep more of the membership quota – news Trøndelag
