|
By Claudia Fezzardi, IRW Graduate Editorial Assistant
On June 18, 2003, the IRW hosted a roundtable with twenty-five
Danish trade union women on the topics of gender parity and democracy
within the labor movement (see Agenda).
The roundtable was aimed at comparing perspectives from Europe
and the US, highlighting proposals and sharing ongoing projects
from both areas. Participants came from various union organizations
in Denmark, among them the Danish Federation of Trade
Unions (LO), the Women Workers’ Union in
Denmark (KAD), and the Danish Union of Public
Employees.
After some initial remarks, Dorothy Sue Cobble
(Director, IRW) invited all participants to introduce themselves
and their organizations.
The first panel, chaired
by Adrienne Eaton (Director, Labor Education
Center, Rutgers University), focused on the progress and challenges
of gender politics within the trade unions. Nina Roth,
a consultant for the Ligestillingssekretarietat, discussed the
use of gender mainstreaming in Denmark as a new form of union
education. The goal is to encourage shop stewards and union members
to define what gender equality means and what steps can be taken
at their workplace to reduce gender discrimination. Discussing
gender in small groups at multiple workshops also may reduce the
gap between the large number of women union members and their
relatively limited presence in union governing bodies. The second
panelist, Jette Likke (LO), described three networking
projects-–called Starlet, Victoria and FL--implemented by
LO in Denmark, which are aimed at improving women’s involvement
in union leadership. These projects address different target groups
of women in terms of age and professional advancement, but they
all focus on concrete projects--work, personal development and
the production of printed material illustrating the projects,
which gives participants an opportunity for further evaluation
and reflection. A discussion session following these presentations
focused on the role played by class in women’s attainment
of power positions and on the myths of “classlessness”
which challenge women both in Denmark and the US.
After a short break, the second panel was introduced by Dorothy
Sue Cobble, who described the process known as “feminization
of unions” in the US. She pointed out a discrepancy between
the increase in women’s membership within the unions and
the persisting need for a corresponding change in the institutions
and culture of trade unions. Cobble discussed the current crisis
of labor unionization in the US-–less than 15% of the labor
force is presently unionized, compared to 85% in Denmark--and
highlighted its potential for growth, rooted in women’s
ever-increasing presence and participation. The next presenter,
Tamara Østergård (KAD), described
her experience as a shop steward for the Women Workers’
Union in the cleaning services sector and her interest in ethnic
women’s participation and protection. She highlighted the
special problems faced by ethnic women workers in view of a marked
policy of assimilation implemented by the current Danish government.
After discussion of the panel presentations, the participants
were invited to a tour of the Labor Center at Rutgers University,
where Debra Lancaster (Director, Occupational
Safety and Health Program) gave a presentation about the Center’s
most recent projects.
During the day, I took the opportunity to interview some of the
participants, asking them about their union work and, more generally,
about labor relations and unionization in Denmark. Both Jette
Likke and Tamara Østergård
highlighted the crucial role of women in Danish trade unions and
Danish unionism’s choice of a less confrontational, more
cooperative relationship with public officials, which enhances
the unions’ chances of success in collective bargaining.
Jette Likke discussed recent trends in Danish
politics, focusing on the growing autonomy of the Danish Federation
of Trade Unions from the Social Democratic Party. She also remarked
that the concept of class in Denmark is much less clear-cut than
in the US, due to a very limited salary gap and to the absence
of obvious class markers and extreme class polarizations. On the
other hand, Tamara Østergård signaled
a large presence of non–Danish immigrant women at lower
social and professional levels and emphasized the importance of
unionization for these women. Jane Egholm (KAD)
illustrated some of the criteria for KAD’s projects in developing
countries, such as those in Ghana, Nepal and the Philippines.
She explained that often projects start with an expression of
interest by a representative of a certain developing country or
geographical area –for example, during an international
conference- and project implementation is based on previous contacts
between the area itself and union organizations in Denmark. The
main challenge faced by such projects is the need to educate and
organize women whose efforts are at times discouraged by their
own communities and families.
Some of the topics discussed throughout the day were further explored
in more informal conversations during the buffet dinner which
concluded the event. The roundtable constituted a valuable opportunity
to identify points of contact and contrast between unionization
in Europe and the US. Differences include the disparity in unionization
rate, the amount of state-funded support offered to workers, and
what can be obtained through union bargaining. On the other hand,
women’s constant and growing interest and participation
in union work may certainly be counted among the points of contact
between the two geographical and cultural areas.
For more on Danish unions and women:
Website of the Danish
Confederation of Trade Unions (LO): http://www.lo.dk/smcms/English_version/Index.htm?ID=2923
Information on LO leadership programs
for women in unions:
http://irw.rutgers.edu/programs/loprograms.pdf
Website of the Women
Workers’ Union in Denmark (KAD): http://www.kad.dk/apps/pbcs.dll/oversikt?kategori=ENGLISH
For more on US unions and women:
Cobble, Dorothy Sue and Monica Bielski Michal. "‘On
the Edge of Equality?': Working Women and the US Labour Movement.”
In Gender, Diversity and Trade Unions: International Perspectives,
ed. Fiona Colgan and Sue Ledwith. London: Routledge, 2002, 232-256.
Available in PDF format at: http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~cobble/publications.htm.
|
