PROSA is a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

representing

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

workers in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

History

The union was founded on 15 February 1967, by about 25 programmers and systems analysts at

Scandinavian Airlines The Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), commonly known as Scandinavian Airlines, is the national airline of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It is part of SAS Group and is headquartered in Solna, Sweden. Including its subsidiaries SAS Link and ...

(SAS), its name loosely standing for "Programs and Systems Analysts Association in SAS". It quickly concluded an agreement with SAS. The following year, programmers at Datacentralen joined the association, then in 1969, PROSA established itself on a national basis, setting up a branch which any programmers or systems analysts could join. While PROSA was the first union dedicated to IT workers in Denmark, some workers in the industry were members of the

Danish Union of Commercial and Clerical Employees HK Denmark (), is a Danish trade union representing clerical workers, workers in retail, and in related industries. The union was founded in 1900, as the Central Organisation of Danish Trade and Office Aid Associations, later becoming the Union o ...

(HK). In 1971, HK formed SAMDATA, a dedicated section for IT workers, and competed fiercely with PROSA for members. Despite this, PROSA grew steadily, reaching 1,000 members by 1976, and 5,000 in 1986. In 1971, it launched a magazine, also entitled ''PROSA'', and in 1972 it made its president a part-time member of staff, becoming full-time the following year. PROSA affiliated to the

Confederation of Professionals in Denmark A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

(FTF) in the late 1960s, but was expelled in 1973 after refusing to accept FTF's demarcation agreement. It rejoined in 1996, and since 2019 has been a member of its successor, the

Danish Trade Union Confederation The Danish Trade Union Confederation (, FH) is the largest National trade union center, national trade union centre in Denmark. On formation in 2019, it had 79 affiliated unions, with a total of 1.4 million members. History The confederation was ...

(FH). By 2018, the union had 10,720 members.

Presidents

:1972: Anker Mørk Thomsen :1976: Erik Kristensen :1981: Hans Irgens :1985: Steffen Stripp :1990: Bodil Toft :1996: Peter Christensen :1999: Henrik Kroos :2002: Peter Ussing :2008: Niels Henrik Bertelsen

References

External links

*{{official website, https://www.prosa.dk Trade unions in Denmark Trade unions established in 1967 Tech sector trade unions