It was just missing then

The news that the state-employed police officers in the Commonwealth are now equal appeared in the news stream last week.

The police officers in Greenland can now look forward to getting the same working hours of 37 hours a week - just like in the rest of the Commonwealth, and not least the same salary - just like in the rest of the Commonwealth.

Previously, the arguments for not equating the salary and working conditions of police officers in Greenland with their colleagues in Denmark have been that it would distort the salary development in Greenland.

Traditionally, salaries are generally lower in Greenland compared to Denmark and when the working week in Greenland is 40 hours, the distortion between the conditions of the Greenlandic and Danish police officers was obvious.

As far as I can remember, there has been a struggle for equality in several areas in Greenland.

In my childhood, it was a lot about women's rights, the amount of work in the home, raising children and the like. But it was also about "Equal pay for equal work".

And that applied to both men and women, but certainly also between people born in Greenland - that is, the natives, and the called-up, as they were primarily called, the Danes who came to Greenland to work.

The wage gap between the natives and the called-up was a result of the controversial wage and employment policy that was introduced in Greenland in 1964, also called the birthplace criterion.

It ensured higher wages for Danish-born people in order to attract qualified labor, and it created a marked inequality and different conditions among the two population groups.

The aim was, as stated, to attract qualified labour from outside in order to modernise Greenlandic society.

At the same time, the salary level for residents was to be kept at a lower level, which was considered appropriate for the economy.

This meant that residents received a lower salary than their Danish colleagues with the same education and job.

The birthplace criterion was heavily criticised by the population for being discriminatory and has gradually been phased out over time.

The last remnants of the birthplace criterion were abolished in connection with collective bargaining negotiations in 1991, i.e. 13 years after the introduction of home rule.

At that time, there was full equality between residents and those called up with the same educational background and work tasks.

The Greenlandic police officers and in fact also the prison officers were excluded from the equality.

Their employment conditions and salaries continued to follow the Greenlandic wage rates and conditions, which were well below the employment and salary conditions of their Danish colleagues.

In February, the news came that the state-employed prison officers in Greenland had now become equal to their Danish colleagues.

Last week, the Greenlandic police officers got their much-needed equality with their Danish colleagues.

There is jubilation and cheering all over the line.

And of course we should be happy that the discriminatory treatment that has been faced by Greenlandic and Danish civil servants in the Commonwealth is now a closed chapter.

But I would rather say: Finally!

It has been shouted about for so many years. The changing members of the Folketing have also pressed on, without it being taken seriously.

The argument that equal pay and employment conditions risked destroying Greenlandic wage developments was a thin one. Because it is thin when it can be done today. Fortunately, because it was simply missing.