SOME ASPECTS OF THE DANISH SHOP STEWARD SYSTEM
| Date | 01 June 1963 |
| Published date | 01 June 1963 |
| Author | Reinhard Lund |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.1963.tb00982.x |
SOME ASPECTS OF THE DANISH SHOP STEWARD
SYSTEM
REINHARD
LUND”
IN
the autumn of
1960
the Danish Labour Movement’s Research and
Educational Foundation suggested to the Danish National Institute
of
Social Research that it should make a study of the shop steward system.
The enquiry subsequently planned by the Institute was designed
to examine the effectiveness of the system by a study of those factors
which determine the recruitment, rate of turnover, and the resignation
of shop stewards.’
In this article we can only refer to the design of the enquiry
(Section
I)
and some of its major findings (Sections
I1
to
V).
In Section
I1
the evolution of the Danish shop steward system is described. In
Section
I11
the opinions of workers, shop stewards, and employers
of
the duties of the shop steward are analysed, and an attempt is made
to get some idea of shop stewards’ influence on management decisions.
In Section
IV
the motivational factors in the recruitment of shop
stewards are discussed, and finally, in Section
V,
some of the reasons
why shop stewards resigned are touched upon.
I.
Design
of
the
Enquiry
The
first
part of the enquiry was begun in June
1961
by
means
of
a postal questionnaire sent through the Federation of Trade Unions in
Denmark to
27
large national unions with more than
2,000
members
in the manufacturing and construction industries, offices and com-
mercial employment. These unions had
690,000
members, or
97
per
cent. of the Federation’s membership within these industries and
trades. The enquiry provided information on the number of shop
stewards in
22
of the national unions; one national union had no shop
stewards, and four national unions gave no information on this point.
Two national unions were chosen for detailed study. One was
a
large national union of unskilled workers, The General Workers’
Union, where the shop stewards’ average tenure of office was short
(median average about two years), the percentage-coverage low (about
50
per cent.), and where the shop stewards’ training prior to election
was considered to be relatively limited. The second was a small union
of skilled workers, the Moulders’ Union, where the shop stewards’
average period of office was longer (median average about three years),
Research Fellow, Danish National Institute
of
Social Research.
1
In most Danish establishments trade union members
of
the same union form a club
to
handle their special problems. The club is
led
by a committee
of
which the shop
steward is chairman.
370
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