The Women's Trade Union () was a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

organizing female workers between 1902 and 1909. Its members were generally seamstresses, but the union also had a presence in other women-dominated sectors. In the year of its foundation, the union had 642 members. As of 1906, the union had 32 sections with a combined membership of 1,037.

Early period

Committee for Female Agitation at Sterky residence 1902

In 1897 a Committee for Women's Agitation had been formed by Stockholms allmänna kvinnoklubb. The committee was reorganized as the Women's Trade Union in 1902. At that time women were not allowed to join the Swedish Tailoring Workers Union, and the new union was founded as a reaction to this. The Women's Trade Union was intended as a transitional organizational, organizing union clubs that were unable to join established unions.
Morgonbris
', no. 6, 1908 At the founding of the union a board was elected, including Anna Sterky, Anna Johansson-Visborg and Gertrud Månsson.Schmidt, Eva.
Kvinnor, kamrater… Kvinnans roll i arbetarrörelsens uppbygge till slutet av 1930-talet
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LO affiliate

The Women's Trade Union joined the

Swedish Trade Union Confederation The Swedish Trade Union Confederation ( ; literally "The National Organisation in Sweden"), commonly referred to as LO (), is a national trade union centre, an umbrella organisation for fourteen Swedish trade unions that organise mainly "blue-c ...

(LO) in 1904. A women's club had been formed at the LM Ericsson in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, after visits from Anna Sterky and Kata Dahlström. The LM Ericsson women's club affiliated itself to the Women's Trade Union in 1905. The Women's Trade Union issued a proposal to the 1906 LO congress, that the trade union movement ought to pay more attention to agitation amongst working women and that special women's meetings be organized. The proposal was, however, not approved by the congress. After the decision of the Swedish Tailoring Workers Union to allow women to become members, a competition emerged over which union seamstresses should belong to. In 1909 the Women's Trade Union was disbanded, and twelve of its sections joined the Swedish Tailoring Workers Union.

Publication

In 1904 the Women's Trade Union began publishing '' Morgonbris'' ('Morning Breeze'). It was initially a quarterly, but was converted into a bimonthly in 1906. After the disbanding of the Women's Trade Union, the publication was taken over by the Social Democratic Women's Congress.

Banner

In 1904 the union obtained its own banner. The banner was designed by Selma Sandberg. It was made of wool, with embroidered text.Arbetarrörelsens arkiv och bibliotek.
Fanor i Antikrundan
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References

{{reflist Swedish Trade Union Confederation 1902 establishments in Sweden Trade unions in Sweden 1909 disestablishments in Sweden Trade unions established in 1902 Trade unions disestablished in 1909 Women's organizations based in Sweden Women and trade unions

Early period

LO affiliate

Publication

Banner

See also

References