Despite the decline in the number of union members in the ten years leading up to 2019, the high number of union members remains characteristic of the Nordic countries compared to the rest of the world. The difference between the Nordic region and the rest of the industrialized world has existed mainly since 1960. This year, union density ranged from 34 percent in Finland to 71 percent in Sweden, while the European standard was typically between 29 and 65 percent to 24 percent of U.S. workers were unionized. In the early years of his reign, John pursued a policy of compensation. By diplomatic means, he tried to weaken the position of the Swedish regent Sten Sture, and he also sought new allies – he was the first Danish king to enter into political cooperation with Russia. After the treaty of 1493, Ivan III was imprisoned. From Russia, all Hanseatic merchants who traded in Novgorod and initiated the Russo-Swedish War (1496-1499). Hanseatic cities were also troubled by a secret war of Danish buccaneers.

At that time, the position of the Hanseatic League deteriorated slowly but steadily due to changes in trade routes and growing resistance to the Hanseatic League in the naval states of Northern Europe. In the 13th century, the Hanseatic League – a collection of merchants of German origin – grew rapidly and became dominant in the North and Baltic Seas. The region and its trade routes were previously well controlled by the Scandinavians, but the League quickly overtook them and increased the risk of territorial expansion. In addition to war costs and losses of more than 300,000 thalers, Lübeck lost much of its pre-war Swedish trade to other Hanseatic cities. [2] On the 13th. In December 1570, the parties finally reached an agreement in the Peace of Szczecin. [11] The high level of trade union organisation has influenced Nordic political party systems. The trade unions of Denmark, Norway and Sweden were historically closely linked to the social democratic parties, and the unity of the trade unions became an article of political faith, unlike the divided trade unions of France, Italy or Germany between the two world wars.

Between the 1930s and 1970s, the trade unions mobilised most of the social democratic votes that led to a virtually permanent social democratic government. In Iceland and Finland, on the other hand, trade unions were a battleground between communists and social democrats at that time. It was only after this political split with the Social Democratic-Communist government coalition in Finland in 1966 that finnish trade unions began to play a similar role to that of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. In defiance of the royal charter of 1483, John extended the authority of his office and further balanced the power of the nobles by supporting the Danish merchant class against their main competitors, the merchants of the Hanseatic League (a North German trade association). His anti-Hanseatic policy was promoted by trade agreements with England, the Netherlands (1490) and the merchants of the Fugger house of southern Germany. Trade union conferences throughout the North took important organizational decisions, such as the creation of central city labour councils (Gothenburg Conference, 1886) and national trade union federations (Stockholm Conference, 1897). National trade union federations (usually called LO because of derivatives of the Scandinavian term Landsorganisationen) were founded in Denmark and Sweden in 1898, Norway in 1899, Finland in 1907 and Iceland in 1916. The organization then followed into unskilled ranks and exploded in Finland after the revolutionary year general strike of 1905 and in Iceland after 1906. When the Socialist International met in Copenhagen in 1910, Danish hosts could be proud to have the strongest trade unions in the world.

Economic and personnel changes since the 1960s have had a dramatic impact on Northern unions. Deindustrialization diminished the importance of the male craft and industrial unions that dominated the labor movement in the first century. The growth of the public and service sectors has been followed by increasing unionization of employees, while the increasing participation of women in the labour market has been accompanied by an increasing importance of women in union leadership. In 2018, for example, only two of Sweden`s ten largest unions were private sector unions, manufacturing workers` unions. Eight were employees and six had female majorities. Wanja Lundby-Wedin was elected first female President of the Swedish LO in 2000 and Liv-Gerd Valla of the Norwegian LO in 2001. Both came from public sector unions. At the beginning of 2019, Lizette Rigsgaard is president of the Danish University of Applied Sciences (formerly LO) and women lead many trade unions in the Nordic region.

The Nordic countries still have the highest trade union density in the world. In 2016, the number of union members of all workers and employees was 52% in Norway, 65% in Finland, 84% in Iceland, 66% in Sweden and 67% in Denmark. In comparison, in most other countries of the European Union, between 20 and 30% of workers are generally unionized – with the exception of Belgium, which has an organisational structure similar to that of the Nordic countries – and 10% in the United States. A much higher percentage of employees are subject to collective agreements, 80-90% in the Nordic countries. Trade union organization began in Denmark in 1870-71, shortly after the dissolution of the guilds (1862). It was closely linked to the organisation of the Danish Social Democratic Party – in fact, until the last quarter of the twentieth century, the trade unions and the party were closely linked as two wings of the workers` movement in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. By the mid-1880s, Danish craftsmen`s unions were well organized in most of the former guild professions; they owed their success to a large extent to the control of artisanal travel funds, the precursors of unemployment benefits. In Sweden and Norway, a trade union organisation followed, initially from an artisanal point of view. In response to the high level of trade union organization, employers have also organized.

This « organizational arms race » first led to massive conflicts in Denmark in 1899 and Sweden in 1909. However, as a result, especially since the negotiations on basic labour market agreements, Nordic trade unions and employers have increasingly introduced centralised collective bargaining. In this forum, the issues of wages and working and employment conditions for most workers are defined by a single national framework agreement negotiated by the National Trade Union Confederation and the National Confederation of Employers. The tragedy occurred in 1387 when Olaf died suddenly at the age of 16. Details of his death seem hard to find, but rumors of poisoning led a Prussian « fake Olaf » fraudster to unsuccessfully attempt to claim the crown a few years later, on the grounds that he had fled an assassination attempt on his life. His case wasn`t exactly supported by the fact that he didn`t speak a word of Norwegian, a fact that became easily evident when he finally got an audience with Margaret. King Haakon died in 1380 and Olaf succeeded to the Norwegian throne at the age of 10. Olaf was the great hope of uniting the crowns of the three countries and thus bringing greater Scandinavian prosperity and protection against the Hanseatic League and other forces in the region.

Two years later, after Albrecht von Mecklenberg had angered the Swedish nobility by planning to confiscate large quantities of their lands, Margaret helped the Swedes depose Albert and was declared « all-powerful lady of Sweden », and so finally all power in the region was theoretically in one place. Johann`s domestic politics were marked by the economic support of Danish merchants and the widespread use of citizens as civil servants or even as members of the council, which angered the nobility. Perhaps the most important of his initiatives was the creation of a permanent Danish Navy, which played a role in its later years. .