Trade union demands a sixth week of paid holiday

The introduction of a sixth week of paid holiday is likely to be one of the main point of contention in collective bargaining in Denmark's public, agricultural and financial sectors, which will commence in early 1999.

At its congress held on 6-15 September 1998, Denmark's second largest trade union, the General Workers' Union in Denmark (Specialarbejderforbundet i Danmark, SiD), which has 333,000 members, voiced its demands in the run-up to the next round of collective bargaining in early 1999.

The main bargaining demand adopted for the public sector by SiD's board of representatives on 16 September was an additional week of paid holiday (bringing the total to six weeks) with effect from 2000. The same demand is made concerning bargaining in the private sector, which will be conducted in 2000. In order to achieve a sixth week of paid holiday, SiD is willing to trade the three "childminding" days and two extra days of paid holiday, which were the result of 1998's collective bargaining (DK9805168F). SiD's demand is supported by the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen i Danmark, LO), which has stated that the introduction of the sixth week of paid holiday is unquestionably on its way.

Whereas SiD's demand does not come as a surprise to state public employers, the Ministry of Finance (Finansministeriet) does not believe that the introduction of a sixth week of leave is what is needed and will not give priority to this demand. The Ministry has underlined the need to focus on the changing demographic situation and emerging labour shortages, which could jeopardise the healthy economic situation.

Collective bargaining in the state bargaining area, covering some 180,000 state employees, could set a precedent for the regional and municipal bargaining area (620,000 employees) and even for the agricultural and financial sectors (100,000 employees).