Proud past - shaping the future, 100 years of Nordic cooperation – E-bok

One hundred years ago – 15 July 1923 – around 40 bank employees from Sweden, Denmark and Norway met in Gothenburg for the very first
Nordic Bank Unions’ Congress. Nordic bank employees were divided and hard-pressed – inflation tormented both employees and their unions while the well-established Nordic workers’ movements mobilised to dominate the labour market and the socio-political scene.

During a few summer days at the west coast, the delegates established a unique Nordic cooperation between bank employees, the Nordic Bank Unions, NBU. The aim was to become stronger through cross-border cooperation. Only years later unions from Iceland and Finland joined. The most pressing questions of the early 1900s were raised in this Nordic interaction, such as the right of association and collective bargaining, better pensions, improved working hours and higher wages. Equality, technical development, security and sustainability were added later – all questions that concerned bank employees in their everyday lives in the 1900s.
NBU helped to establish Nordic bank employees as an important profession and social group. The Nordic cooperation became even more pronounced when bank and insurance employees joined forces and created NFU – the Nordic Financial Unions. 

 In 2023, NFU’s main arena is primarily the European Union – but the task remains the same, to improve working conditions for Nordic bank and insurance employees.