Breakthrough in agriculture and forestry pay negotiations

Denmark's first major collective pay settlement for 1999 was concluded on 17 January. Some 20,000 employees in agriculture, forestry and horticulture are to receive three additional days off per year, expanded pension schemes and wage rises. The outcomes are similar to the provisions of the government's intervention to end the main private sector collective bargaining round in spring 1998.

On Sunday 17 January, the first national agreement of the 1999 pay round (DK9812198F) was signed by the horticulture, farming and forestry group (Gartneri-, land og skovbrugsgruppe) of the General Workers' Union (Specialarbejderforbundet i Danmark, SiD) and the Danish Confederation of Employers' Associations in Agriculture (Sammenslutningen af Landbrugets Arbejdsgiverforeninger, SALA), on behalf of its member organisations, Farming and Forestry Employers (Land- og Skovbrugets Arbejdsgivere) and the Horticultural Employers' Association (Gartneribrugets Arbejdsgivere). It is expected that the settlement will set the level for the rest of the pay round.

The content of the two-year agreement covering some 20,000 employees in agriculture, forestry and horticulture is a direct continuation of the government's political intervention which imposed a settlement to end the spring 1998 bargaining round after a major industrial dispute hit most of the rest of the private sector (DK9805168F). In particular, the new agreement provides for three additional days off per year and an increase in contributions to occupational pension schemes by 0.9% of pay in each of the years of the agreement, with employers paying 0.6% and employees the remaining 0.3%. On top of this, the deal provides for pay rises of DKK 2.25 per hour from 1 March 1999 and DKK 2.20 from 1 March 2000.

The partners are agreed that the agreement's contents will result in a total rise in costs of 7.5% over the two years, with 4.5% falling in the first year. This distribution is explained by the expected slight fall in the general rate of wage rises in Denmark in future years.

The settlement met with some criticism from the main central employers' organisation, the Danish Employers' Confederation (Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening DA) - of which SALA is not a member. However, when compared with the results of the government intervention in May 1998 and the pay trends in workplace negotiations since that date (DK9901102F), SALA feels that it would not have been possible to reach a cheaper agreement. The settlement comprises five smaller agreements for employees in machine pools, agro-industry, forestry, fish farms and abattoirs. In addition there are two agreements for the horticultural sector. This is the first time that a combined settlement has been reached for the whole of this area, which has nearly 20,000 employees.

Still to come are the negotiations for the remaining 30,000 employees under SALA's remit. This includes some 10,000 workers in the dairy industry and 17,000 workers in abattoirs, plus a few smaller areas. Here, SALA's negotiating partner is the National Union of Food and Allied Workers (Nærings- og Nydelsesmiddelarbejder Forbundet, NNF). It is expected that the recently completed settlement will set the pace not only for the remaining part of the SALA area but also for the approximately 825,000 employees in the public sector. It will be even harder for the public employers, headed by Finance MinisterMogens Lykketoft, to reject the public employees' demands for the same additional free time which the government granted private employees in 1998.