Membership rates of alternative unions that offer individual juridical guidance and assistance
but rarely contribute to collective bargaining are increasing in Denmark. Conversely, the overall
membership rates of traditional unions that negotiate collective agreements are decreasing. This
means that local shop stewards often face a mixed environment of workers in traditional unions
and workers in alternative unions at the individual workplace. Surveys have indicated that shop
stewards split into two groups when dealing with non-members at the workplace. Half of them
choose to represent non-members (pull strategy), whereas the other half choose not to (push
strategy). This article presents an explorative case study of the recruitment and retention strategies
used by two shop stewards in two different companies with significant groups of alternatively
organized workers. A case with sector-level wage setting and a case with local-level wage setting
within the manufacturing sector are compared. Results suggest that shop stewards in both types
of settings tend to combine push and pull strategies, because they serve different purposes. Push
strategies help retain existing members of the traditional unions, whereas pull strategies are necessary
to recruit new members. Local-level wage setting seems to offer more opportunities for shop
stewards to make use of push and pull strategies than sector-level wage setting. Local negotiators
can be efficient organizers, because they are able to demonstrate visible advantages of union
membership on a regular and individual basis. However, it is also a high-risk project that among
others depends on the support from the local union office.
