Denmark

supporting women on strike

The authors of this article are women from the Danish Women's Liberation Movement: the Redstockings. We are a group within this movement which has the function of supporting women workers on strike. We are supporting them not only through financial help but also through resolutions and different kinds of practical aid, for example, sticking up posters, putting material together and so on.

As a very essential and important part of our work, we have begun to make interviews with women involved in labour conflicts and in this way we are trying to collect together their experiences from their strikes, public as well as private, in order to pass on these things to the next group of striking women and so on. To publicize these experiences might be a help and a step towards a common consciousness, which is a necessity for us, if we want to be victorious in our labour conflicts.

Susanne, Katrine,
Bodil and Stina
Redstockings, Denmark

Until the end of the 1950s, agriculture was the dominant factor in the Danish economy. The year 1963 was that in which industrial export exceeded agricultural export. During the 1960s, in the period before the economic crisis, the need for workers in industry was greater than ever and large numbers of women began working in production. At the same time, the number of service jobs (social workers, health personnel, etc.) was increasing. 

From 1960 through 1975, the number of women employees increased. This was especially true for married women: only about 20% were working in 1960 compared to 60% in 1975. In 1975 women comprised 40% of the labour force (employed and unemployed) in Denmark. The total population of Denmark is five million and there are 1.400,000 males and 900,000 females in the labour force.

The new women employees are involved partly in clerical work in the private sector and partly in civil service jobs. Women working in industry has been up to a maximum of 90,000 ( 10% of the women in the labour force), but after the economic crisis the number decreased to 70,000 within four years.

The Organisation of Women

Fifty two per cent of women workers are organized, whereas the percentage for men is ninety. There is no industrial federation in Denmark: the organization of the working  class is based on various trades. Apart from this organization based on trades, there is a union for women only. The women's union (KAO) has existed since 1901 and most of the female workers in industry are organized in this union. KAO includes 90,000 women and 25,000 of these members have been organized within the last three years. This must be seen in light of the great unemployment in Denmark. These years, very many women are becoming organized. In KAO, 23,000 members are unemployed. The percentage of organized women in industry is much higher than in the rest of the women's labour market.

Women employed in administration are organized either in HK (Trade and Office) or in the union of public service and salaried employees. In neither of these organizations do specific women's demands have a strong position in spite of the fact that women are in the majority.

Double work for women, the bureaucracy of the unions, male domination are some of the reasons why so few women are organized and active in trade unions in Denmark as well as elsewhere.

The Crisis

In the last four years, we have felt the consequences of the international economic crisis in Denmark: consequences such as cuts in the social security budget, lowering wages for workers, reduction of the right of the working class to negotiate and take action. We have also witnessed an undermining of civil rights. There have been fights between the police and the people who have tried to fight back against some of the unreasonable attacks on our living conditions. Politically, there has been a move to the right, and at the present time the social democrats have come into office together with a conservative party (the old liberals).

All these things have been happening in many countries in recent years, even though they take different shape from country to country. Here as in other countries, women are hit harder than men.

Unemployment

The crisis threatens the right of women to work and thereby their economic independence. Since 1974, the unemployment of women has increased. From this table you can see that

women's unemployment is much higher than the average

          
Although women make up only 41% of the labour force there were, in 1977, more unemployed women than men (women 76,500 - men 75,900). The industries hardest hit by the crisis are typical women's industries such as textile and clothing industries. Furthermore, unemployment in the service sector (shops and offices) is becoming rather high, mostly because of new labour-saving techniques. Because of the dramatic cuts in the social service network, many women who have been employed here are now without work.

Strikes

In the last two or three years, many women have become involved in strikes and conflicts in the labour market. Not only women industrial workers but also a new group of women workers without a tradition of considering the possibility of changing their working conditions through political action, have now begun to use the weapon of the strike; i.e., groups of women such as teachers, nurses, social workers, clerical workers and women working in shops. There are ·not a lot of women's strikes in Denmark : there are very few compared to the number of strikes in the male-dominated industries, which often have a long tradition in the labour movement.        

The number of women's strikes, however, is growing considerably. In the women's movement we must take a stand and discuss how we can support women who are fighting at their place of work.

We would now like to describe four different strikes in which women have taken part: The description is to give you examples of different types of women's strikes.

The Strike in the Royal Porcelain Factory in Copenhagen

This strike was very long lasting compared to other Danish strikes. It lasted thirteen weeks in the autumn of 1976. It was the beginning of quite a string of low wage fights in the labour market that followed the growth of the crisis. Furthermore, its position was fundamental for a lot of people, because of the current collective bargaining. It was expected that the 1976 collective bargaining would offer the workers a wage freeze or even a reduction in wages.

There were 1,270 workers involved in the conflict, most of whom were women. The workers in this factory have always belonged to the low wage group of workers in Denmark, on the ground that the china painting done by the women had a look of art and royalty which should make the job an honour.

The strike was, all the way through, mainly a wage dispute . The main demand was a raise in the minimum wage to 31.50 Danish crowns per hour. When the conflict ended the workers accepted a minimum wage of 30.50 but it was still considered a victory.

Information about the strike was spread all over the country. The china painters painted the pattern, for which the factory is known all over the world, on cardboard plates. They went all over to meetings arranged by local supporting committees and told people about their fight.

The strike was supported not only by the Danish left-wing groups, but also by large parts of the rank and file members of the labour movement, who agreed with the strike. The Redstockings did not support the strike as a movement, but individual women from the movement participated in the supporting committees.

The Strike in the Stocking Factory in Hijorring

This factory belongs to the labour intensive textile and clothing industry which, in general, is hard hit by the crisis and which employs many women. We should mention, moreover, that the factory is situated in the northern part of Jutland, where many factories are able to survive the crisis only because of state subsidies for regional development and local cheap labour.

More and more workers have been fired from this factory in Hjorring. The factory and the trade union agreed that forty people should be fired on the 14th of August 1976. Against all agreements, forty-three people were fired on that day . The three sacked workers not included in the agreement were women. The intention was that three men should replace the three women fired. That was enough for the women.

They already felt that they had been treated extremely badly compared to the male workers (the wage difference, for example, was from 10 to 12 kroner between unskilled men and women). Eighty women stopped working immediately and five men did the same in sympathy when they heard that three more than agreed had been fired. Fighting spirit was high. The strikers insisted on their demands for the reappointment of the three women in spite of different compromise proposals from the management. After ten days of conflict all the demands of the eighty women on strike were met.

Every morning a common meeting was arranged in the factory and everyone tried to be active in the striking groups. There was a strike committee which, among other things, was supported to negotiate with the management, an information group, an economy group, plus a group of agitation and propaganda to inform the local factories about the strike.

To obtain support, the women held a knit-in action in the town of Hj0rring (the same type of action as used by the china painters in painting cardboard plates). where they sold their home knitted "solidarity socks" and discussed their demands personally with people from town.

It might seem to be a small victory to get three women reappointed in a small factory far from the city. The strike, however, was important in many respects. It was mainly women who took action, and the strike is exemplary because it took place in a small town on the outskirts where many women are first generation workers without any experience in fighting in the labour market. 

In two other supermarket conflicts "St0den Brugs" in Roskilde in May 1975 and "Fsnex" in Kolding in March 1975  and April/May 1976 the strikers allied themselves with the  customers and urged them to boycott the shops and do their shopping elsewhere. This way the  strike could be more.  effective and hit the economy of the owners. All  three of these strikes were aimed against the various consequences of the rationalization efforts in this field.

Strikes Among Personnel in Shopping Centers

Eleven EDB assistants at the shopping center Salling in Arhus (the second largest city in Denmark) began to strike when two colleagues were fired because they had complained about overtime and time-studies. These women struck for thirteen days attempting to ally with the customers by demonstrating outside the supermarket and, in this way, spreading the news about their deteriorated working conditions. This conflict ended in victory for the eleven EDB assistants as the two women sacked were reappointed.

 Short Strikes Among Social Workers in Arhus

As an example of new groups of women protesting against their working conditions, we would like to tell you about the two short strikes of social workers in Arhus in September 1978. To begin with, it is necessary to describe the completely unreasonable working conditions of these women . 

The pressure from large unemployment in the country and the effect of the crisis on all areas of everyday life, together with the cuts in the social security budget, has meant a hell of a lot to the social workers. In the community of Arhus one social worker is burdened with around 125 cases. In less than two years, the number of cases this group of mainly women has to take care of has doubled. Many social workers have been giving up in recent years or are forced to leave their jobs because of nervous breakdowns and gastric ulcers. A very hopeless situation.

The social workers negotiated for months to get sixty-three new social workers appointed to lighten the labour burden but the negotiations met with no results. This whole  situation meant an incredibly low level of service for the users of the social security system. One hundred social workers went on strike for two days the first time. The strike was very well organized. It was planned to take place on a day when a strike would paralyze the social service network in Arhus. 

The management of the town administration promised that they would appoint twenty-one new social workers, but this was unacceptable to the social workers. They went on strike again and this time the clerical staff joined them. The second round of negotiations began and ended up with a total rejection of the demands of the social workers.We do not expect the social workers to accept this but at the moment they have not gone on strike again.