The Union of Employees in Commerce and Offices ( no, Handel og Kontor i Norge) (HK) is a

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 ( ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The union was founded in 1908, with the merger of 21 local unions of shop and office workers. It initially struggled financially, but these slowly improved as the union was centralised. Following years as a non-political organisation, leader Albert Raaen persuaded it to align with the social democratic movement, and it affiliated to the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions in 1931. Other unions were able to take solidarity action in support of HK, which began recruiting strongly among young workers. Raaen was arrested in 1941, during the Nazi occupation, and a new leader was imposed, while the union's staff were forced to continue in their posts, although much of the union was secretly involved in the

Norwegian resistance The Norwegian resistance (Norwegian: ''Motstandsbevegelsen'') to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms: *Asserting the legitimacy of the exiled government, ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the union grew, with many new

collective agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...

s and campaigned for equal pay between men and women. Membership peaked at 61,000 in 1987, then declined, but later recovered, reaching 74,050 in 2019.

Presidents

:1908: Fridthjov Nilssen : :1927: Albert Raaen :1941: Michael Berg (under Nazi occupation) :1945: Alfred Nilsen :1964: Otto Totland :1988:

Sidsel Bauck Sidsel Gerd Bauck (1929 in Oslo – 2005) was a Norwegian trade unionist and politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject a ...

:1994: Sture Arntzen :2013: Trine Lise Sundnes :2020: Christopher Beckham

References

* {{Authority control Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions UNI Global Union Trade unions established in 1908 Trade unions in Norway