As of monday 23. september, four of the six unions in NCO were formally accepted as member unions in the Union of Finance Personnel in Europe (UFE).
The UFE now consists of 24 different unions from 14 different countries. The Nordic countries that joined the UFE this year are:
Dansk Told & Skatteforbund (DK)
Norsk Tollerforbund (NO)
TULL/KUST (SE)
Tollvardafelag Islands - TFI (IS)
The two finnish union, TVML and TL, are yet to decide if they are going to apply for a membership in the future.
Solidarity and cooperation in Europe
The inauguration was done during this years UFE-congress which is held outside Münich, Germany. An unamonous vote welcomed the nordic unions.
On behalf of the NCO-organizations, Karin Tanderø Schaug, president of Norsk Tollerforbund, held an inaugural speech to the UFE - with a tight focus on European solidarity and the importance of wanting to collaborate together:
"We`ll start with expressing our thanks to the UFE for wanting us to rejoin this union. Today the largest and most important labour unions for Customs and/or tax-officers in Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway apply for membership in the UFE.
We are also accompanied from one of the Finnish unions (TVML) whom are yet to decide if they should apply for membership.
Together we are also known as the Nordic Customs Organization, but to clearify – we apply for membership as four separate national unions.
We are also accompanied by the union for Norwegian tax-officials in Norway (the SKL) who also are applying to join the UFE.
We have all been members of the UFE before, the SKL left in the early 2000, and the NTO-countries withdrew their membership in 2014 – to explore other means and organizations to gain political influence. We have kept up communication an collaboration with the UFE and the UFE presidium in the 10 years that have gone by, and we are now happy to rejoin our European labour union family.
I also want to thank you all for inviting us to join and for having some of us as you guests during the last UFE-congress in Luxembourg.
I shall not go to deeply into the reasons why we left back in 2014, but rather focus on why we think it`s so important to be a part of the UFE today.
There are several other organizations which can be used to put political pressure on EU officials and national governments from a tax- and customs perspective. How ever it`s is nothing like the UFE, where there is ONLY unions from the tax- and customs area and we have concluded that this is our best choice to share information and develop contacts throughout Europe.
If we look at the geopolitical situation today, compared to just a few years ago, there has come clear to us that solidarity is more important then ever. The terrible war in Ukraine, war and human disaster in the Middle East, commercial tradewars with China – the world has changed. And therefore, we that can and should stand together, must stand together.
As labour unions with many common goals, it`s vital that we support each other, that we show care for each other and that we help our governments develop a society we are proud of and want our present and future members to live and prosper in. We must stop asking “what`s in it for me” and start with “what can we do to help?”
The challenges vary in each country. Yes, there are some places in Europe where even being in a union is difficult enough. But you show us your dedication just by taking part here. That`s an inspiration to the rest of us and a reminder that we also must “pay our due”.
We are convinced that there is much potential in the UFE. In which degree we can use that potential is up to us in this room – and how much effort we are willing to put in to make a difference.
We look forward to getting to know you all better, to be able to use UFE as a forum for inspiration, to be able to learn from each other and I`m hope we can find many ways to help each other – politically and professionally. We want to help develop UFE to the best version of itself."
This is not the first time the NCO-unions are members of the UFE. Ten years ago, in 2014, all of the unions in NCO left the UFE, and now most of them have rejoined this European plattform to exchange experiences and discuss fellow challenges.
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