Arne Geijer (born 7 May 1910, in

Söderala Söderala is a locality situated in Söderhamn Municipality, Gävleborg County, Sweden with 949 inhabitants in 2010. Writer Mare Kandre (1962–2005), was born in Söderala. Olympic sports shooter Fredrik Mossberg (1874-1950) was also born there ...

Söderhamn Municipality Söderhamn Municipality (''Söderhamns kommun'') is a municipality in Gävleborg County, in east central Sweden. The seat is located in Söderhamn. The present municipality was created in 1971 when the former ''City of Söderhamn'' was amalgamate ...

Hälsingland Hälsingland (), sometimes referred to as Helsingia in English, is a historical province or ''landskap'' in central Sweden. It borders Gästrikland, Dalarna, Härjedalen, Medelpad and the Gulf of Bothnia. It is part of the land of Norrland. Ad ...

, died 27 January 1979 in

Bromma Bromma () is a borough (''stadsdelsområde'') in the western part of Stockholm, Sweden, forming part of the Stockholm Municipality. Bromma is primarily made up of Bromma Parish and Västerled Parish. The fourth largest airport in Sweden and the th ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

organizer. Geijer left school when he was thirteen and began working in agriculture. He later completed an apprenticeship as a toolmaker, and joined the

Swedish Metalworkers' Union The Swedish Metalworkers' Union ( sv, Svenska Metallindustriarbetareförbundet often shortened in text and speech to simply ''Metall'') was a trade union in Sweden. History The union was founded in Stockholm on 21 May 1888, and had 555 members b ...

. At the age of 28 he began working full-time for the union as its director of education, and in 1945 he won election as its general secretary, also taking up a position of the council of the

International Metalworkers' Federation The International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) was a global union federation of metalworkers' trade unions, founded in Zürich, Switzerland in August 1893. the IMF had more than 200 member organisations in 100 countries, representing a combine ...

. In 1955, Geijer was elected to the upper house of the

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

, representing the

Swedish Social Democratic Party The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( sv, Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti ; S/SAP), usually referred to as The Social Democrats ( sv, link=no, Socialdemokraterna ), is a social-d ...

. The following year, he won election as chair of the

Swedish Trade Union Confederation The Swedish Trade Union Confederation ( sv, Landsorganisationen i Sverige ; literally "National Organisation in Sweden"), commonly referred to as LO (), is a national trade union centre, an umbrella organisation for fourteen Swedish trade unions ...

, and from 1957 he held these two posts alongside being president of the

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) was an international trade union. It came into being on 7 December 1949 following a split within the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), and was dissolved on 31 October 2006 when ...

. In this role, he was known for his backing for the

International Solidarity Fund International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

. He was replaced as president in 1965, but remained chair of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation until 1973. In retirement, he served as chair of the Swedish National Pensioners' Organisation from 1977 until 1979.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geijer, Arne Swedish trade unionists 1910 births 1979 deaths

Arne Arne may refer to: Places * Arne, Dorset, England, a village ** Arne RSPB reserve, a nature reserve adjacent to the village * Arné, Hautes-Pyrénées, Midi-Pyrénées, France * Arne (Boeotia), an ancient city in Boeotia, Greece * Arne (Thessa ...