Jørgen Juul Rasmussen, General Secretary of the Danish Union of Electricians addressed convention delegates on Friday with a message of international solidarity.
“Thank you for inviting the Danish Union of Electricians to visit your 40th convention,” he said. “We are all, Benny, Per and I, are having a fantastic week we will never forget.”
Rasmussen, whose union is known in Denmark as the Dansk El-Forbund, or DEF, said the IBEW is an important trade union with a well-known leadership and noted U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to the convention earlier in the week as proof.
“But for any union it is also most important to have the acknowledgement of its members, of the rank and file,” he continued. “I know you have that. I can surely feel the brotherhood, the sisterhood and the solidarity of this convention.”
Despite the difference in miles between Denmark and the U.S., Rasmussen said that being at the convention and talking with delegates shows how much we have in common.
“Brothers and sisters, we are the only ones to fight for justice and fair conditions for electrical workers,” he said. “I’m hopeful that step-by-step we will win more and more fights for organizing, for justice and for fair conditions, and an even for a more fair society. A society where no workers need more than one job to sustain their family.”
Rasmussen went on to note the increased globalization of the world and what it means for global workers’ rights.
“When we want more victories, we must also fight together, in solidarity, over the borders, over the Atlantic and over the Pacific Ocean,” he said.
We live in a world with multinational companies, Rasmussen said, which makes us even more connected.
“As you know, when the multinational companies move across borders to do jobs and score profits and push for nonunion jobs and low paid jobs, we must as electricians and trade unions, we must be even more connected.”
Rasmussen also noted that Danish companies like Orsted and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners have started projects building offshore windmills in the U.S.
“I know Orsted very well. They are a well-behaving company back in Denmark. They have a collective agreement in Denmark, so I told them there is no need to behave different when you go to the States.”
We must live with cross border work and companies going abroad, Rasmussen said, but we should never tolerate the lack of agreements.
“Brothers and sisters. I tell you this, because we must remember, that it is us – and only us – of the trade unions of electrical workers, that will take that fight for the rights of electrical workers. The world we live in today, we can only win if we cooperate across borders and across the oceans.”
Rasmussen also addressed the Russian invasion of Ukraine and how the Global Power Trade Unions, which the IBEW participates in, has stood up in solidarity with Ukraine by writing a letter to the Russian union of electrical workers.
“We made it very clear, please tell Mr. Putin that this war has to stop now,” he said. “Now we must hope for a change in Russia that will put justice, democracy, freedom and peaceful international cooperation back on the agenda.”