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In Norway, the proportion of employees who belong to a union varies greatly from industry to industry. Sellers are almost at the bottom at 25 percent.
This roughly corresponds to the share of the agricultural industry, which is 24 percent. Only the construction industry and the hotel and restaurant industry have a lower level of organization of almost 20 percent, as figures from Fafo show. On the private labor market, retail is also one of the sectors that perform worst in terms of pay.
In comparison, public administration, for example, has a level of organization of almost 80 percent.
It is so unusual to be organized in retail that the LO Union (HK) believes that some members must actually have secret membership.
– There are mutliple reasons for this. This could, for example, be due to fear of not being considered for future promotions or other conflicts with the employer. Unfortunately, this is a fact that we will have to live with in 2024, says Elisabeth Sundset, Deputy Chairwoman of Hong Kong.
– Someone I know resigned from HK to take a leadership position. He then registered again and asked HK to pay directly so that the employer would not know that he was still organized, John Thomas Suhr, head of trade and office in Oslo/Akershus, told FriFagbevegelse in 2016.
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– It was forgotten
Why is it so difficult to organize employees in retail? Martin Strøm (25) is one of the many thousands of store employees who are not organized. But that was actually the plan. He is employed in the household appliance industry.
– It was simply forgotten. “I thought about it because almost everyone I spoke to and knew privately recommended it,” he tells Dagsavisen.
– Do you know which union would be relevant to your industry?
– No, unfortunately I’m a little unsure about that, says Strøm.
Martin has just bought his own apartment in Lillestrøm and is desperate to save money.
– The price of housing will rise. But I haven’t thought much about things like retirement. Still, I invested some money in index funds. This will come in handy in the future, says Martin.
Although it’s not organized, Martin thinks it’s an advantage.
– There’s a reason I thought about it. I think it’s nice security in case something should happen. Either now or in the future. But perhaps you are a little more tied to a tariff than organized? “I’m a little unsure,” he says.
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– Much too low
Elisabeth Sundset in Hong Kong, LO’s third largest union with 80,000 members, believes that the level of organization in the goods trade is too low.
– Yes, the workers in retail are far too unorganized. It is a challenge. There are about 360,000 workers in this industry nationwide, so it could probably be more, says Sundset.
– Where does the low level of organization come from?
– Retail is an industry in which there is no organizational tradition and where many young people and students work. Often people simply weren’t asked to join. In HK we are continually working to increase the level of organization, including company visits. Another focus of our seminars is on ideological education and the history of the trade union movement. The aim is to create an understanding of where the movement comes from, why it is important and how we can use these perspectives today, says Sundset.
– We are also on Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram to reach young people and we have our own student rates.
Sundset is also convinced that the organizational culture does not exist to the same extent as, for example, in industry.
– The industry has laid the foundations for the most important collective agreements and collective bargaining agreements in the past. It is an industry with a long history and culture of organized work life that retail does not have in the same way. Newer jobs in the service and service sectors, often industries with a high proportion of women, do not have the same historically ideological mindset as the industry itself, Sundset explains.
[ Les også: Fagorganisert for enhver pris? ]
[ Les også: Bonuslønn som stinker ]
– Organization is self-reinforcing
– Fafo surveys show that organization has a self-reinforcing effect because it creates a culture in the workplace. Companies with a lot of traffic and shorter employment periods lead to a lack of organizational culture.
This is what Trine Østereng, advisor to the Tankesmien Agenda, says.
According to the Norwegian Statistics Office, merchandising is also one of the lowest paid professions. It is therefore important to also think about the pension systems to which a collective agreement can contribute, says Østereng.
– Many people forget to think about retirement or postpone it. Employees in retail have poor pension prospects. A contractual pension through the collective agreement strengthens the pension for those who initially do not have very good conditions. The contractual pension is between 15 and 18 percent of the pension paid to people with professional experience in goods trading. It’s a big part of the pension, says Østereng.
[ Får du ikke lønna du har krav på? Her er seks råd ]
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