Agenda
Danish trade unions are pragmatic and cooperative. They see themselves as responsible actors in a well-regulated society where improvements in living standards and working conditions are the result of a stable and incremental development. The unions see their main tasks as securing a fair distribution of the wealth in society and establishing a high level of social security.
History
Origin
Denmark has one of the earliest institutionalised bargaining systems in an industrialised, capitalist society. The so-called ‘September compromise’ laid the foundations of the major components of the system in 1899. The institutional setting was enhanced in 1910 by the implementation of an Industrial Court and the creation of the labour market’s public conciliators. These innovations led to what is called the ‘Danish model’.
Development
During the last three decades, the tendency has been for small trade unions to merge. Most notable has been the merger between the General Workers’ Union and the National Union of Female Workers. Learning from earlier unsuccessful merger attempts by other trade unions in the LO federation, the two unions conducted thorough preparations before they put the merger proposal to vote among their respective members. The merger took effect on 1 January 2005 under the new name of 3F.
Recent status
At the beginning of 2009, the membership of the trade unions organised under the Danish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen i Danmark, LO) fell to under one million active members. This was a symbolic milestone of a development that has been steadily ongoing since the middle of the 1990s when membership peaked at 1.5 million and started to decrease after decades of continuous growth.
Key Features
Overall
The Danish labour market has a tradition of a high degree of trade union membership. This is one of the characteristics of the ‘Danish model’, and is historically an effect of the connection of trade unions to the unemployment funds (A-kasser).
Political
LO has been formally tied to Denmark’s Social Democratic Party (Socialdemokraterne), via interlinking directorates and financial support, for a long time. However, in 2003, the LO congress cut the last formal bonds to the party.
Collective bargaining
The principal level for collective bargaining in Denmark is the sectoral level. Negotiations in a specific industrial sector generally set the trend for the other negotiations at this level. This gives to the federation of trade unions, the Central Organisation of Industrial Employees (Centralorganisationen af Industriansatte, CO-Industri), an important role in the Danish industrial relations system.
Institutional Structure
Overall
From an overall perspective, Danish trade union structure is very fragmented with a large number of organisations … In 2001 there were 169 independent union organisations, though this was down from the peak of 267 organisations in 1969. It is, in particular, FTF [Salaried Employees' and Civil Servants' Confederation] which had a large number of very small affiliated organisations. In 2001 FTF had 104 member organisations, of which 23 had fewer than 100 members, while 65 organisations … had fewer than 1,000 members.
Legislation
Trade unions are not explicitly mentioned in the constitution. Freedom of membership in an association – both the positive and the negative right – is expressed in the Act on the Freedom of Association in the labour market. The law was amended in 2006, abolishing the right to closed shop agreements.
Two sets of legislation affect the Danish system of negotiation: the Act on the Labour Court (Arbejdsretsloven) and The Act on Official Conciliators (Forligsmandsloven).
Both sides of industry are represented in the Labour Court, which rules on questions concerning breaches and interpretation of the Basic Agreement, breaches of the collective agreement, as well as the legality of industrial action. Questions concerning the interpretation of collective agreements, however, are dealt with through so called industrial arbitration …
Unemployment insurance
The long existing linkage between trade union membership and unemployment insurance has been a significant contributory factor to the high density of union membership … But since the centre-right government came into power in 2001, it has deliberately weakened cohesion between trade unions and unemployment insurance via legislation and thus contributed to a decrease in trade union membership …
Challenges
Flexible labour market
The first central challenge is the emergence of a much more flexible labour market mainly as a result of globalisation. Danish employees change jobs more often –nine times on average in a working life. The employees not only change occupation but also the sector of economic activity. For example, many of those who were dismissed from the manufacturing sector due to the current economic recession found a new position in municipal care.
Young people and trade unions
The second significant challenge is the general failure to recruit young people. A generation ago, membership of a trade union was a natural continuation of a job relation. Today, however, the traditional solidarity has been replaced by a more individualistic approach among young people to the trade union movement. This approach is in accordance with a more flexible and individualistic labour market.
“Yellow unions”
The third challenge comes from the competition from so-called ‘yellow unions’, that is, trade unions which are not part of the traditional union movement. They offer lower membership fees, which attract especially younger employees. However, they do not participate in the collective agreement negotiations,
The increasing role of the employers organisations
The last but not least challenge for the development of the LO trade unions … is the increasingly dominating role of the employer organisation, the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI), affiliated to the Confederation of Danish Employers (DA).
Key trade union confederations
Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO)
By far the largest trade union confederation in Denmark is the LO. The unions belonging to LO have 1,201,300 members (figures from the Statistical Yearbook 2010, which is also the source for the other trade union membership figures) and they organise both manual and non-manual workers.
Salaried Employees' and Civil Servants' Confederation (FTF)
The next biggest confederation is the FTF, with some 358,100 members. It is largely made up of unions which organise public sector employees like civil servants, teachers and nurses, but it also includes some private sector non-manual workers, particularly in banking and finance.
Confederation of Professional Associations (AC)
The third largest grouping is the AC, with 136,600 members, which organises employees with graduate education in the public and private sectors. AC lost 43,700 members in 2008, when the largest union affiliated to it, the Danish society of engineers (IDA), decided to leave the confederation.
Key trade unions
LO member unions
a. 3F was formed by a merger between the general workers’ union SID and the union for female workers KAD in January 2005
b. HK - Shop and clerical workers' union
c. FOA - Public sector employees’ union
FTF member unions
a. DLF - Teachers’ union
b. BUPL - Staff in childcare institutions
c. DSR - Danish nurses' organisation
AC member unions
a. DJØF - Association of Danish Lawyers and Economists
b. DM - Employees with higher academic degree
Transition to Globalisation
In the spring of 2005, the Danish Government established a Globalisation Council of 26 representatives from trade unions, business organisations, companies and people from the education and research field as well as from the Government. The governmental members were the Prime Minister, the Minister for Economic and Business Affairs, the Minister of Finance, the Minister for Education, and the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation.
Globalisation ? Social ? Labour market
Transition to Political Tools
In the 2004 enlargement round, the expected influx of workers from new to old member states caused alarm in many countries … Because such workers tend to remain unorganised, the Danish trade unions experience the consequences of free movement as a pressure on the wages and conditions of their members.
Political Tools ? National ? Denmark ? Dom.Policies ? Social ? Labour Market
Transition to Political Actors
In Denmark there is strong [social partners] support for this so-called Danish model … Employer organisations support it because it frees them from detailed, inflexible legislation for instance on employment protection, working time and minimum pay. Politicians support it because they believe it is the best way to avoid conflicts and because the parties are orientated towards growth and competitiveness.
Political Actors ? Civil Society ? Trade Unions ? National ? Denmark
