You’re joking, right?

I read in one of Norway’s major newspapers Aftenposten today that the local Progress party in Oslo has sent a letter to LO (The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions) asking for NOK 200 000 in support for this autumn’s local election. Oh, come on! If LO were to do that it would be the same as if someone said to you “I’m going to kill you, give me a knife” and then you give them the knife.

LO’s power is built on the principle of power that comes from workers being united in their negotiations with the employers. As not all 800 000 workers can be present themselves in the negotiations, they elect shop stewards (union members who are elected to represent fellow workers in negotiating with management). LO educates their shop stewards to ensure that the workers have the best possible representation in negotiations. One of the reasons why LO thinks a system of shop stewards to represent the workers is a good one, is because if a worker were to meet the employer alone to negotiate the terms for employment the worker could be persuaded or bullied into accepting conditions that would be bad for the worker.

The Progress party’s main principles say:
Legislation should, apart from safety and health provisions, not restrict the rights of individuals to enter into labour contracts subject to the conditions that the parties themselves agree upon.

Then further on in the program it says:
A free labour market does not work properly as long as organisations in a seemingly monopoly situation centrally negotiate agreements on behalf of workers and employers. Work-, salary- and employment-contracts work best if these are negotiated locally between the workers and the employers.

This attacks the very core of what LO stands for: when we are united we are more powerful. The Progress party wants to destroy the very system on which LO is built.

And they ask LO for money?? Their argument is that polls have shown that quite a large number of LO’s members vote for the Progress party. What can I say? Forgive them for they know not what they’re doing? Granted, there are members of LO who don’t like that LO give economical support to the Labour party and Socialist Left party. The reason why LO does this is because these two parties work towards building the kind of society that LO wants for their workers. I personally think that the members of LO who vote for the Progress party and complain about the economical support to the Labour party and Socialist Left party should not be members of LO at all, there are trade unions outside LO as well who, as far as I know, don’t give economical support to political parties. But honestly, if you vote for the Progress party, have read their program and consciously really know what you’re doing – you probably should not be a member of a trade union to begin with – as the Progress party doesn’t seem to believe in trade unions.

I know there are people in LO who would not agree with me when I state this because LO’s power is built on the large amount of members (Norway’s population is about 4.5 million and LO has about 800 000 members), but my utopia is a world where people when they choose to join a trade union they do this because they’ve given some thought to it and know what it means, just as when they vote for a political party they have actually read the program in detail and know what they’re voting for. I will probably no live to see the day when that happens, but I can always dream, can’t I.

But for now I’ll just have to be content with saying: LO giving economical support to the Progress party? You must be joking, right?