“New creative solutions must be developed in the recruitment work,” it says in the proposal for LO’s program for 2022–2025, which will be adopted at the LO congress this week. One of the trade union movement’s most important goals is to get more members to increase its own strength. LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik announced in a VG interview in April LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik Photo: Patrick da Silva Sæther / Patrick da Silva Sæther that she would continue as LO leader. She then set a goal for LO to pass a million members with her at the helm. And she said it was only a matter of a few thousand members before the goal was reached. What she, LO and the other main associations do not talk about as loudly is that a good part of the members are not working. Very many are retired. Some are students. – Why do you talk about a million members as a goal when the number of active members is much lower? The LO leader does not have time to answer the question about her million goal herself. LO secretary Terje Olsson with responsibility for recruitment writes: – As the country’s by far the largest employee organization, our most important task has always been to fight for workers’ rights and a more equal and just society. This of course also applies to those who for a number of years have already contributed to the community through a long working life. We will continue to do that and therefore it is LO’s total membership that we relate to. The fact that a proportion of our members have already been members for a number of years, and no longer in work, is a natural part of our role as a representative of employees of all ages. 600,000 non-employed In total, the four main associations in the Norwegian trade union movement have almost 600,000 non-employed members. – These figures are completely open with us, says communications manager at UNIO, Jan Christian Kolstø. Unio organizes, among other things, many teachers and nurses. – Is the most relevant number of working people? – It may well be, but as I said, we are completely open about the numbers we have and what they represent. Both in terms of gender, unions, area of negotiation and professional activity, Kolstø continues. Acting leader of the Academics Lise Lyngsnes Randeberg is most happy that they are growing. Lise Lyngsnes Randeberg, leader of the Academics Photo: Thomas B Eckhoff / Thomas Eckhoff – The total number of members shows both the support for organized working life, and the influence of each main organization. The academics have the largest proportion of working people among the main organizations, and that number is an important measure for us. But we are concerned about the conditions of all our members, that includes the student and pensioner members. The students are the working people of the future and the pensioners are loyal members through a laid-back working life. Mighty 107,000 Around half of all Norwegian employees are now unionized. Some of them have more influence over wage settlements than others. Fellesforbundet is a powerful union in LO. They represent the industry and are the so-called front subject. This means that they negotiate first and in practice set the limit for how much special public employees can receive in salary supplements. Fellesforbundet has 162,000 members in total, but only 107,000 are fully paying members.
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Includes pensioners and students in the membership – NRK Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
