Atlantican Federation of Labour
| File:ASA.png | |
| Native name | Alþýðusamband Atlantikska |
|---|---|
| Founded | 16 July 1837 (as the Atlantican Journeyman's Association) |
| Members | 375,000 |
| Affiliation | Global Alliance of Trade Unions, Socialist-Farmer-Labour Party, Red-Green-Socialist Alliance |
| Key people | Vilhjálmur Agnarsson (General Secretary), Elva Ármannsdóttir (Deputy General Secretary) |
| Office location | Stórkostlegurborg |
| Country | Atlantica (country) |
| Website | http://www.asa.al |
The Atlantican Federation of Labour (Atlantican: Alþýðusamband Atlantiksa) is the largest national trade union center in Atlantica, representing approximately 375,000 workers, or around 80% of Atlantica's workforce and 40% of Atlantica's population. The ASA, via the Atlantican Labour Pension Fund is also responsible for distributing corporate pensions to about 100,000 retired workers.
The ASA has close ties to Red-Green-Socialist Alliance, particularly the Socialist Party, with all SFL Leaders serving as General Secretary or Deputy General Secretary of the ASA or one of its affiliated unions before becoming Leader of the SFL. The ASA is also heavily involved in door-to-door campaigns and demonstrations in parliamentary elections encouraging people to vote RGSA and SFL, as well as heavy efforts to get their members to vote SFL. Numerous polls have shown that a strong majority of ASA members vote RGSA, and that the bulk of SFL voters are members of the ASA. The ASA also often campaigns in referendums relating to labour laws and issues affecting the ASA's membership.
History
The ASA was founded in 1837 as the Atlantican Journeyman's Association (AJW) by Dagur Ingolfsson and Ásmundur Leifsson, in order to unite the newly-created labour unions as the number of workers employed by employers boomed (previously the majority of Atlantican workers, especially skilled workers were self-employed, with the notable exception of dockworkers and shipping workers, largely employed by the Government) and some of the first Atlantican labour unions were created. At the time of the formation of the ASA, it represented about 10% of the Atlantican workforce.
In 1870 the name of the ASA was changed to its current name and it formally affiliated with the newly-formed Socialist-Farmer-Labour Party, as the AJW's leaders, particularly its General Secretary, Indriði Steinsson (who was additionally a notable socialist theorist and is generally recognised as the founder of the SFL) saw the Socialist-Farmer-Labour Party as the best way to advance the interests of the union and its membership, and a majority of AJW members voted to affiliate with the Socialist Party. In the 1880 parliamentary election, neither the Blue Party nor the Radical Party gained a majority, and the SFL agreed to support the Radical Party on confidence motions and to vote for the Radical Party's proposed budgets until 1883 (the next scheduled parliamentary election) if the Radical Party voted for a bill proposed by the SFL banning yellow-dog contracts and the use of strikebreakers, as well as mandating collective bargaining and requiring employers to recognise a specific trade union if the majority of workers in a secret-ballot election voted to recognise that specific trade union, which the Radical Party agreed to do. Following the enactment of this bill (the Atlantican Labour Relations Act) into law, the percentage of the Atlantican workforce represented by the ASA skyrocketed, and about 40% of all Atlantican workers were represented by the ASA by 1900, with an additional 1% of Atlantican workers represented by other unions in that same year.
By 1925 the percentage of Atlantican workers that were members of the ASA had grown to 45%, and about 5% of Atlantican workers were represented by other unions. In 1925, with the election of former ASA General Secretary and Socialist-Farmer-Labour Party Leader Gunnar Ólafursson, in no small part due to the massive effort the ASA made into electing Ólafursson that year, all forms of union-busting were made illegal, and existing violations to the law and new ones were met with incredibly heavy fines, sometimes even prison time, whilst Ólafursson nationalised and created a state monopoly on many industries, including all mining and drilling operations and all utilities within Atlantica. All of the newly-enlarged public sector was made a closed shop, as all public sector workers were required to be members of various unions, the vast majority of them members of the ASA and the rest of them members of the Communist Party-affiliated Revolutionary Confederation of Labour, whilst in 1930 a ghent system was established, as unions acted as a "middleman", providing unemployed union members with state-funded unemployment insurance funds. These actions were a boon to Atlantican unions and the ASA in particular, and by 1940 70% of Atlantican workers were members of the ASA, and about 10% of Atlantican workers were represented by other unions, leading to a union density of 80%. This figure steadily rose until 1970, in which 80% of Atlantican workers were members of the ASA, whilst 18% of Atlantican workers were represented by other workers, leading to a union density of 98%. This figure has largely stayed the same over the past 45 years.
Membership
Around 90% of Atlantican public sector workers are members of the ASA, with the remaining 10% being members of the Revolutionary Confederation of Labour, leading to the slight majority of ASA members being public sector workers, although the vast majority of private sector workers are also members of the ASA. The majority of private sector workers affiliated with the ASA are blue-collar workers (although it should be said the majority of Atlantican blue-collar workers work in the Atlantican public sector, although a significant portion of Atlantican blue-collar workers work in the private sector) and pink-collar workers, although many white-collar workers are also affiliated with the ASA.
Organisation
The ASA and all of its member unions, as per the Union Democracy Act (one of the few laws restricting union activity in Atlantica), are considered to be highly democratic unions. The General Secretaries and Deputy General Secretaries, as well as local union representatives are required to be democratically-elected, calling and ending strikes and approving contracts are required to be approved in a referendum by union members. The ASA also holds an annual National Convention on the first of May composed of representatives from all ASA member unions which is the highest decision-making body for the ASA. Per the Union Democracy Act, all representatives to the National Convention are elected by the members of the ASA.