Trade unions in Norway first emerged with the efforts of Marcus Thrane and the formation of the

Drammen Labour Union Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such as Konner ...

in 1848 which organised agricultural workers and crofters. However, with Thrane's imprisonment and the suppression of the union in 1855, it was not until 1872 before a union was founded again, by print workers. In 1899 the first national federation, the LO, was founded. During this period interactions with trade unions in Denmark and Sweden played a great influence over the development of trade unions in Norway. In Norway today around half of all workers are trade union members and almost three-quarters of all workers are covered by collective agreements. There are four confederations with affiliated members:

Confederation of Unions for Professionals The Confederation of Unions for Professionals (Unio) is a national trade union centre in Norway. The federation was formed in 2001 by unions, most of which were formerly part of the Academic and Professional Unions An academy (Attic Greek ...

, Confederation of Vocational Unions, Federation of Norwegian Professional Associations,

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 union ...

References

Economy of Norway {{Norway-org-stub