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8 March, 2010
The negotiations towards a new national collective agreement for the manufacturing industry in Denmark had been deadlocked, see ICEM report here, but the renewal of the agreement was signed on Monday 22 February by the ICEM-affiliated general union, Central Organization of Industrial Employees in Denmark (CO-industri) and the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI). However the HK private trade union rejected the agreement.
Gains for workers across the sector include two additional weeks for parental leave, improved redundancy pay, improved monitoring of health and safety for night-shift workers, improved working conditions for shift workers, and newly created authority on equal pay.
The collective bargaining round directly affects 240,000 workers in the manufacturing industry. But it also indirectly affects an additional 350,000 workers in the private sector. As previously reported by ICEM, historically, the manufacturing agreement is used as a blueprint for other negotiations.
Both Hans Christensen, the negotiator for DI business, and Co-industri President Thorkild E. Jensen, were content with the renewed agreement, after negotiators worked through the night to beat a deadline which would have moved negotiations to a tribunal. Jensen described the agreement as “balanced and guaranteed our members’ jobs”. The agreement is valid for the period 1 March 2010 to 1 March 2012.
Night workers were a priority for trade union negotiators in the talks, with free health exams provided every two years and for those employees who are advised against night work, their employer must find them another job. Night workers will also be eligible for up to ten extra days off annually. Changes to the rules on pension contributions will discourage employers from moving to precarious contracts. Apprentices see a 4.5% pay increase over the two years.
The deal has been described as a “crisis agreement” and sees trade unions agreeing to only a small pay increase and for the first time since 1991, no increase in pension contributions.