1. Organisational Legionnaires or Life Artists. The Shop Steward: Past and Future.
- Author
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Sommer, Finn M., Olesen, Henning Salling, and Andersen, Anders Siig
- Abstract
In Denmark, the institution of shop steward was established in 1900. Until World War II, shop stewards' main functions were to recruit new trade union members and check whether labor agreements were being observed. After World War II, Denmark's shop stewards began having to deal with increasingly complicated and "technical" questions. The training of shop stewards became a matter of mutual interest for employers and trade unions. In the early 1970s, an education and training fund was established to support systematizing shop steward training. Over time, shop stewards were expected to perform many new tasks that required technical skills and know-how far exceeding those developed in existing forms of shop steward education and training. The following are just some of the qualifications that shop stewards must develop and for which systematized training and education is required: understanding collective bargaining and other agreements; recognizing conflict and coincidence of interests and using that knowledge in negotiations; reading selectively, processing information, and communicating clearly; formulating short- and long-term interests and motivating colleagues to address them; organizing meetings and activities; placing specific events and conditions in broader social and historical contexts; and analyzing the political content in specific questions. (MN)
- Published
- 1996