Nurses and teachers reject new three-year agreements

In April 1999, Danish nurses and the teachers turned down new three-year collective agreements, which had been negotiated as part of a joint settlement for local authority employees. The nurses want more pay and the teachers want to change working time rules.

In ballots held in April 1999, nurses and teachers voted to reject new three-year collective agreements, which had been negotiated in February as part of an overall joint local government settlement (DK9903114F) by the trade union bargaining cooperation body, the Association of Local Government Employees' Organisations (Kommunale Tjenestemænd og Overenskomstansatte, KTO). The KTO agreement covers 640,000 employees in municipalities and counties.

The nurses clearly rejected the agreement between the Danish Nurses' Organisation (Dansk Sygeplejeråd, DSR) and municipalities and counties, with 62% voting against and 38% in favour. A small majority in the Danish Union of Teachers (Danmarks Lærerforening, DLF) rejected the agreement concluded with the municipal employers, with 51.4% voting against and 48.6% in favour. Overall, 50.6% of local government employees voted against the KTO deal and 49.4% in favour, on a 79.8% turnout. The motives for rejecting the settlement varied, with nurses seeking more pay and teachers wanting to change the rules on working time.

Following the ballot result, DSR issued strike notices in respect of 5,000 of its 56,000 members. A dispute could begin as of 13 May, but the public conciliator, Mette Christensen, may postpone the outbreak of hostilities twice by two weeks. The public employers stated initially that they would not make use of their right to lock out the nurses. DLF, which has approximately 60,000 members, issued strike notices in respect of approximately 5,500 teachers in the municipalities on 21 April. A dispute could thus start on 21 May, though again the conciliator may postpone the dispute.

The DSR president, Jette Søe, made it clear that the employers would have to offer a pay increase if a dispute was to be avoided. However, employers have already refused the possibility of awarding higher pay increases to the nurses.

Anni Herfort Andersen, president of DLF, wants county and municipal employers to accept greater centrally agreed guarantees in the rules governing teachers' working hours. The teachers' rejection of the agreement was mainly due to a reorganisation of their working hours which, they claim, means that they no longer have sufficient time for preparation. The teachers fear that, without central guarantees, the municipalities will pressure them to do more teaching while giving preparation time a lower priority for economic reasons.

The grounds for rejecting the agreements are thus different for the nurses and the teachers, which means that there will be no concerted action to get KTO to renegotiate the deal. Consequently, the new agreement will come into force for 80% of all employees in counties and municipalities. Ms Herfort Andersen of DLF also ruled out a joint dispute with the nurses., on the grounds that there is is no common grievance, given the nurses' pay demands.