Working Environment Authority requires reduced working hours in meat factories

The health of workers in Danish meat factories is damaged by monotonous, repetitive work (MRW), but they do not want to change this situation. This seems to be the somewhat contradictory signal given by a strike in September 2000, after a safety committee called for a reduction in the pace of work. This followed an intervention by the Working Environment Authority threatening a working time reduction in meat factories if MRW was not limited. The workers involved are unhappy with the intervention of the authorities, fearing that a reduced pace of work will lead to large fall in wages.

On 3 September 2000, 100 workers at the Danish Crown meat factory in Esbjerg went on strike because the local safety committee had called for a lower pace of work in the form of a collective ceiling to piece-work rates in the meat-cutting units. Two days later, the employer temporarily laid off 250 workers in its slaughtering and cutting units due to the strike, and the factory was idle. Unusually, the workers might be seen as striking for the right to damage their health.

The strike was caused by dissatisfaction with an initiative from the local safety committee, which is trying to reduce the pace of work in the company after having received an injunction from the Working Environment Authority (Arbejdstilsynet). If this is not done, for instance by introducing a ceiling to piece-work rates, the Working Environment Authority will demand a 25% reduction in weekly working time at the factory. The workers argue that a reduction in the pace of work will lead to a fall in piece-work payment and thus a drop in wages of up to DKK 70,000 per worker per year. Against this background, they went on strike.

After a meeting on 6 September, the National Union of Food and Allied Workers (Nærings- og nydelsesmedarbejderforbundet, NNF) ordered the strikers to resume work, so that the 250 temporarily laid-off workers could return to work. This took place the day after the meeting. Through negotiations with the Working Environment Authority, NNF is trying to have the required working time reduction phased in over a period of three years. The Authority has rejected this proposal and has fixed a time limit of three months before it will take further action. "Working time is the only regulation mechanism we have. We have to use it because the work has become too strenuous. We must acknowledge the failure of the social partners to solve the problem of too much monotonous, repetitive work so now we have to take action", says a specialist in industrial medicine at the Working Environment Authority, Flemming Lander. NNF is aware of the problem and has proposed a rotation scheme in the company, with so-called "knife-free" days.

Monotonous, repetitive work

About 250,000 workers in Danish enterprises perform work with a special risk of health attrition - and each year 7,000 persons notify industrial accidents caused by monotonous, repetitive work (MRW). This is the background to an action plan to reduce MRW which was launched by the government in 1993. The idea was to leave it to the social partners to solve this problem. They were given DKK 100 million and promised no public intervention; in return, they were to reduce the problem of MRW by 50% before the end of 2000. In 1998, an evaluation of the MRW measures stated that there were no prospects of immediate reduction in MRW problems. MRW-related complaints had increased by 24% over a four-year period. Instead of the expected fall, MRW problems have continued, especially in meat factories and in the wood and furniture industry.

Record number of days lost due to strikes

So far in 2000, workers in Danish meat factories have set a new record in work stoppages, according to a recent survey published by NNF. Over a period of just six months, the number of work stoppages in 2000 has equalled the entire year of 1999 - ie 112 strikes. This has given rise to concern on the part of NNF, not least in the light of the demand for a reduction in the pace of work expressed by the Working Environment Authority. The question is whether there is a connection between the piece-work rates and the work stoppages.

Commentary

Cutting up meat is typically piece-rate work, as it is possible to measure the number of pieces of meat cut. It is heavy work with very monotonous movements. It thus comes as no surprise that the meat factories are high on the list of targets for the Working Environment Authority when it comes to MRW. However, the poor knowledge about the government's action plan in the meat factories, which can be seen in this case, may be a cause for concern.

Unlawful strikes by the meat factory workers are unlikely to change the decision of the Working Environment Authority. NNF is in a dilemma. No trade union can put piece-work above considerations of employees' safety, health and wellbeing. Nevertheless, the employees at Danish Crown maintain their right to put their health at stake in return for more money in their pocket. The injunction from the Working Environment Authority clearly indicates the seriousness of the matter. A rotation scheme introduced by the Steff-Houlberg meat factory in Holbæk shows that it is possible to reduce the rate of work. Here the workers in meat-cutting unit have, albeit reluctantly to start with, accepted the introduction of a "knife-free" day for all. One day a week, this work is performed by one of the other units in the factory. This scheme seems to be a success. (Carsten Jørgensen, FAOS)