Connecting members and challenging decisions – centring around our colleagues

’Finansforbundet in Nordea is a community you would not be without’ says president Dorrit Brandt and vice president Mette Balck Mejlby about the organisation they are in front of. ’In 2022, we have indeed been able to underline its value and the dialogue we have across areas’.

Up until the Annual General Meeting on 24 March, you can read a series of articles, describing some of the many initiatives and events where Finansforbundet in Nordea (FiN) has put its fingerprint in the previous year. This first one will focus on the areas where FiN meets the members face to face.

An involving Annual General Meeting

’We really strive to make everyone feel involved and as a part of the annual General Meeting, no matter if they join physically in Copenhagen or log in digitally’, says Dorrit Brandt. ‘2022 was the first time with the hybrid setup – and that has left a huge mark. 2023 will go through the roof when it comes to the number of participants’.

Many members spoke at the annual General Meeting (AGM)– and besides, there was an intense informal dialogue at the tables, in the lobby and in the many branches and teams with remote participants. ’The AGM is at the centre of our work in FiN. We meet the members and they provide highly valued questions and input to bring with us in our work onwards’, says Dorrit Brandt, looking forward to hearing what is on top of mind for the members when the doors open on 24 March.

Dialogue meetings in headquarters attract – even those who haven’t joined the community yet

Finansforbundet in Nordea is at its strongest when our membership-share is at a high level. And especially in the headquarters this is a challenge. ’Many teams are unfortunately without a local union representative, and therefore we don’t have the natural channel to show who we are and recruit new colleagues into our community. It is something we are engaged on in many ways – and among those with results are our talks and discussions with well-known people’, tells Mette Balck Mejlby.

Morten Albæk, philosopher and bestseller author, was a big draw in October – and the same was Lykke Friis when visiting Metro in November. ‘We had a really good attendance and we have received lots of positive feedback on the experience. At the same time, we have showed non-members what we can offer … with quite many enrolments as a result’, Mette says.

We meet online – and will continue

The lockdowns taught us a lot on how we ALSO can meet from all corners of Denmark. During 2022, more than 500 members joined webinars, arranged by FiN. Moreover comes the webinars we co-arranged with Nordea – both ’Boost your PLD’ and the meeting on age-bias in January 2023 drew in several hundreds.

We have experimented with as well completely open agendas with discussions on here-and-now items – as well as more thematised meetings, i.e. ’prepare for your salary-dialogue’ or hearing about your rights regarding legal terms of employment.

’Our ’Coffee and dialogue’ meetings with an open agenda normally have between 50 and 100 attendants’, Dorrit Brandt notes, promising that the webinars are here to stay.

A few webinars were hosted in English language, giving satisfaction to those of our colleagues not understanding Danish.

Much appreciated by the individuals – and a well-kept secret

Much of the work done by FiN happens in hiding. A big share of the efforts is as invisible as the part of an iceberg hidden below the surface of the sea.

When individual members or minor groups get into a tight corner at work – for private and health reasons or due to new ways of organising leading to big changes in the staffing – the strong corpse of union representatives and advisors in FiN are ready to help. ‘They are ready when it comes to discussing a difficult situation, but also when someone need an extra pair of ears at a delicate dialogue’, Mette Balck Mejlby explains. ‘The result normally ends up to be far better than if the single member should have weathered the storm herself’.

For obvious reasons, these results will never come out in the open, although they in many ways reflect the very core of being a union. ‘But I can assure that we have all reasons for praising union representatives as well as advisors for the many good solutions they negotiate to the benefit of our members’, Mette Balck Mejlby says, and underlines that the collaboration with Nordea regarding personnel matters in general is good – even though consensus is not always there from the beginning.

A tribute to those who are doing something special for the community

The ’Skulderklap’ prize is a tribute from one colleague to another – and in 2022, Finansforbundet in Nordea received 100 nominations, making it difficult to pick out those 6 who ended up as the final recipients of the prize. ‘It is really great to know that so many, during busy working days, prioritise the nomination of a good colleague who is something special for the community’, Dorrit concludes.

In more than 60 teams, the nominated colleagues were celebrated in a breakfast-event. That means, more than 600 colleagues were reached by FiN on that occasion.

Join us!

These – and other – issues will be even more explained when we meet at the AGM in Finansforbundet in Nordea on 24 March.

Read more about the possibilities at finansforbundet.dk/agm2023 - and sign up here.