Finland: Siltanews – News Desk
Employees and employers in Greenland are presenting a united front in defense of the Nordic model at home but assess the threat from the USA differently.
Greenland’s largest trade union, SIK, sees the USA as such a serious threat to Greenland and the country’s labour market that the union’s long-serving President, Jess G. Bertelsen, a few weeks before the parliamentary elections in March 2025, has decided to run for a seat in Greenland’s parliament Inatsisartut.
“Greenland is suddenly in a very strange and dangerous situation, and all good forces are really needed to defend our country and labour market,” Bertelsen told the Nordic Labour Journal.
The interview took place half an hour after Jess Bertelsen had launched his candidature for the Siumut party for the parliamentary elections on 11 March 2025. He has been the SIK President and a key person in Greenland’s labour market for more than three decades and has seen a lot.
Yet he is shocked that US President Donald Trump has mentioned using force against Greenland as an option.
“It is deeply concerning that Trump will not rule out using force to gain more power over Greenland. In just one and a half months, the political situation has turned very serious, and we have to adapt to it.”
As a politician, Jess G. Bertelsen wants to pursue the governing party Siumut’s policies, and he is very much in favour of securing close and equal cooperation with Denmark and the EU in particular, he explains.
He is a strong proponent of independence but urges constraint in the current political situation. Greenland’s relationship with the Kingdom of Denmark traditionally takes up a lot of the political debate before an election in Greenland, and parts of the Greenlandic population are very much in favour of full independence from Denmark.
This issue plays a significant role in the Greenlandic election campaign and has also gained international attention after Donald Trump’s statements about Greenland.
That is why Jess Bertelsen sees it as an important job to make Greenland’s population understand that they should not hope to become employees in an American labour market and that American interference in Greenlandic affairs could disrupt the way the Greenlandic labour market functions today.
“We know how members of US trade unions are being treated and how the US treats people who have economic challenges. We do not wish this. We have a really good Nordic model in our labour market and we need to defend this now.”