John Marius Trana (22 June 1898 – 29 August 1976) was a Norwegian trade unionist and politician for the Labour Party. He chaired the

Norwegian Union of Railway Workers The Norwegian Union of Railway Workers ( no, Norsk Jernbaneforbund, NJF) is a trade union in Norway. It was formed on 20 November 1892, and mainly organizes workers in Norges Statsbaner—with the exception of locomotive drivers— and th ...

from 1945 to 1963, and served as a deputy representative in the

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years base ...

Career

He was born in

Verdal Verdal is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Verdalsøra. Some villages in the municipality include Forbregd/Lein, Lysthaugen, Stiklest ...

as the son of railway manager John Trana (1871–1920) and his wife Marie Justine Freberg (1867–1949). John Marius Trana was hired by the

Norwegian State Railways Vygruppen, branded as Vy, is a government-owned railway company which operates most passenger train services and many bus services in Norway. The company is owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport. Its sub-brands include Vy Buss coach se ...

in 1917, and was promoted to railway manager in 1921. He became involved in the trade union

, serving as a member of the national board from 1932 to 1941. From 1941 to 1945, during the

occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until the ...

when the Nazi occupants usurped the trade union, Trana was the chairman of the illegal shadow union. The pre-war union chairman,

Ludvik Buland Ludvik Buland (6 May 1893 – 5 February 1945) was a Norwegian trade unionist. He chaired the Norwegian Union of Railway Workers, but was imprisoned and died during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. Early life and career Ludvik Buland ...

, was imprisoned in a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

in 1941. Buland died in prison in 1945, and following the liberation of Norway in May that year, Trana was elected as the new chairman. He was challenged by Communist candidate

Olaf Bjerke Olaf Bjerke (6 January 1893 – 21 September 1957) was a Norwegian trade unionist and politician for the Communist Party of Norway, Communist Party. During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany he was arrested on 10 September 1941 after the mi ...

, but won the vote at the national convention. He chaired the union until 1963, and was later given honorary membership. In the

Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions ( no, Landsorganisasjonen i Norge, LO) is a national trade union center, decidedly the largest and probably the most influential umbrella organization of labour unions in Norway. The 21 national unions ...

, the

national trade union center A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national trade union center, and many have more than one. In some regions, such a ...

in Norway, he was a member of the board from 1945 to 1949 and of the secretariat from 1949 to 1963. From 1949 to 1963, he also chaired the Statstjenestemannskartellet, a

cartel A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. Cartels are usually associations in the same sphere of business, and thus an alliance of rivals. Mos ...

within the Confederation of Trade Unions for workers in the public sector. Trana was also a member of the board of the railway section in the

International Transport Workers' Federation The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) is a democratic global union federation of transport workers' trade unions, founded in 1896. In 2017 the ITF had 677 member organizations in 149 countries, representing a combined membership ...

. Trana had a political background as a member of the executive committee of

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

city council from 1931 to 1937. He served as a deputy representative to the

from

during the terms 1954–1957 and 1958–1961.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trana, John Marius 1898 births 1976 deaths Norwegian trade unionists Norwegian State Railways (1883–1996) people Norwegian resistance members Labour Party (Norway) politicians Politicians from Oslo Deputy members of the Storting People from Verdal