As a shop steward (def. a union member elected to represent coworkers in dealings with management) you build new competences through your work representing your fellow co-workers. The Norwegian Federation of Labour Unions (LO) has together with AOF Norway tried to map out which these competences are and find a model for how they can be documented. The project has been a part of the “Year of elected representatives 2019” and the final report has just been presented.
The so called “Balance model”, taken from the retail and health sectors, has been tried and the results are positive. The model can be used to build a common “LO-qualification” that can describe the informal competences built up over a few years. This would not only benefit todays shop stewards but It could also strengthen recruitment.
Read more about it (in norwegian) here.
