Carin Hallerström: NFU - 100 years of Nordic cooperation

This year, the Nordic Financial Unions (NFU) celebrated its 100th anniversary and, thus, 100 years of Nordic cooperation with a grand conference in Kirkkonummi, Finland. The Anniversary Conference was a significant milestone for the cooperation among the Nordic financial unions. NFU has played a crucial role in fostering a fruitful partnership between Finland and Sweden for many years.

NFU was founded in 1923 when Danish, Norwegian and Swedish banking Unions gathered for their first congress in Gothenburg. A few years later, in 1932, a representative from the newly formed Swedish Bank Employees Union in Finland attended an NFU Congress as an observer and the union became an official member the following year. At the first meeting after the war in 1945, the Finnish Bank Employee's Union, founded in 1938, participated for the first time. The following year, the two unions merged and became member of NFU. Initially, the cooperation within NFU was between bank unions but later also included insurance unions. 

NFU has often played the role of facilitator between its different Nordic members. In the 1960s, NFU advocated for the same rights of finance employees regardless of the Nordic country they were based in. Sweden, for instance, was the first country to close their banks on Saturdays in the early 1960ies, while Finland followed a couple of years later thanks to NFU’s lobbying efforts. By 1971, all Nordic countries had resolved the issue. The progress made in this case was only possible thanks to collaboration across borders. Another example of Nordic cooperation within NFU where Finland received support is the three-day bank strike in 1963. The strike was due to a lag in salary levels and different views on future salary trends. As a result, the fellow Nordic countries agreed to provide financial assistance to their Finnish counterparts.

Trade union Pro (Ammattiliitto Pro), founded in 2011, is one of NFU’s members, representing among else Finnish banking and insurance workers. Pro’s Senior Advisor for international affairs, Rauni Söderlund, stresses that the Nordic union cooperation has proven to be most effective. As a former Finnish Nordea employee and shop steward, Rauni Söderlund remembers the Finnish Banking Crisis of the 1990s, the most severe of the contemporary Nordic banking crises. The governmental intervention included bank takeovers, direct monetary assistance, and temporary blanket guarantees to the banks. “The pragmatic help by our Swedish and Nordic colleagues gave us an effective tool, especially access to their war chest and thus their strike funds. It gave us leverage,” comments Rauni Söderlund.

Another example of how Finnish bank trade unionists could rely on their Swedish counterparts was that the Swedes used their systematic advantages to include Finnish trade union representatives. Board-level representation has traditionally empowered trade unions in Sweden. In this scenario of cross-border takeovers, Swedish trade unions also selected Finnish colleagues for their respective seats on the bank’s board of directors. Rauni emphasises this fact: “This kind of solidarity will not be forgotten!”

Joanna Koskinen, Chairman of Nousu (Nordea Union Suomi) and member of the board of the Nordic union in Nordea Group, highlights the strong collaboration between Swedish, Finnish, and the other Nordic members. The cooperation occurs daily, and one aspect that she emphasises is the Diversity and Inclusion Group. She explains that Sweden is a role-model in this area, they are considered the leading country in diversity matters and have a significant influence on the other Nordic countries, including Finland.

Liisa Halme, Pro’s Liaison Manager on Industrial Policy in the Insurance Sector, shares other examples of Swedish-Finnish cooperation, such as the cooperation with Forena (the insurance trade union Sweden) in the European Works Council. For big insurance companies, this comes at times as a shock. Liisa is quite frank about her experience and mentions that many board members are taken aback when they learn about the cross-border collaboration between trade unions. Jimmy Johnsson, Chief of staff at Forena, underlines the long tradition of cooperation between Forena and VVL, and nowadays Pro, both between secretariats and within the Nordic insurance companies, such as If.

All three trade unionists agree that cooperation between the countries occurs on a daily basis and that this collaboration is essential in ensuring the best possible outcomes for employees. This is especially important given that employer organisations are often prone to playing off one union against the other. Moreover, cooperation between Finnish and Swedish unions provides a valuable opportunity to learn, support each other, and adopt preventative measures.

Over the years NFU has continued to evolve in line with the sector. Today NFU is a strong lobbying organisation, being the voice of the Nordic finance employees at the European level.