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Exploitation and underpay of Greenlanders started with the rapid spread of trade in the country. Exploitation and underpay continue to this day, and the Greenland trade union has always been a pioneering organization attempting to solve this problem.
The introduction of trade (Royal Greenland Trade) meant that the thousand year tradition of a community based on natural economy was undermined. Trade with products from game was traditional until the monetary economy was introduced to the country. The structure of the society was slowly but surely dissolved and the first wage-earners were catechist (lay preachers), helpers for the missionaries and day-labourers. The colonizers based their livelihood on trade with the indigenous people as an underpaid workforce.
In the coal-mining town Qullissat in the Disco Island, where coal mining started in 1924, the first trade union was established in 1947. In the years thereafter the other towns followed. The real organization, however, was first established in 1956, when the former Greenland Workers' Union (Gr–nlands Arbejeder Sammenslutning (GAS)) was introduced. It is this organization which today is called Sulinermik Inuussutissarsiuteqartut Kattuffiat, SIK (literally translated: Organization of people which live by wage-earning), which takes care of the interests of the biggest wage-earning group in Greenland.
SIK has its own economic base and accounts. It does not receive any public support or subsidies from others. The majority of its income comes from membership fees from the local organisations.
SIK has now 32 local organisations nation-wide. Alltogether there are approx. 6,000 members who pay their fees, out of 9,000 potential members. According to numbers of members, local organizations have the right to have up to four delegates at the congress.
SIK is an important part of the structure of the society, and is a big organization in Greenlandic terms. Through many activities and functions, SIK has a vital role in the betterment of living conditions for the wage-earners, as well as having close ties with the political mainstreams. Through its representatives, the organization has a vital role in the development and debate about the Greenlandic society.
SIK has its headquarters in Greenland's capital Nuuk. The union is managed by an executive committee, led by its president, vice-president and the executive secretary.
Greenland - Kalaallit Nunaat - is the country which is the closest neighbour to the North Pole. The climate is the coldest in the world, and therefore hunting of game by land and sea, of fish and birds, is vitally necessary to survive. In other words: Nobody in Greenland is vegetarian! Therefore the Greenlander needs an understanding and an accepting attitude towards his way of living, from people living in warmer climates.
Our country is large, the people are few and scattered along the coast line as most of the area is covered with an icecap without vegetation such as trees. The midnight sun shines during the summer time whereas the long winter periods go by without any sun. The population of 55,000, with its grand warmth from the heart, has understood the necessity of solidarity and humane relations. This is why Greenlanders stand together and thus a strong SIK is needed.
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Jess G. Berthelsen,
President.
Ole Magnussen,
Vice-President.
Ole Kristian, Kleist Secretary of the Board.
Photo: Carsten Lind.
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