More working days lost due to political disputes

Statistics published by the Danish Employers’ Confederation (DA) in March 2003 indicate that 71,000 working days were lost in Denmark in 2002 due to unofficial disputes, twice the figure in 2001. Much of the increase resulted from political action, largely taken in opposition to the policies of the Liberal/Conservative government. The inclusion in the statistics for the first time of the strike-prone meat-processing and slaughterhouse sector may also account for some of the increase.

2002 was not a peaceful year on the Danish labour market, with 71,000 working days lost as a result of unofficial strikes. This was twice the number of working days lost through such action in 2001, though this was the most peaceful year on the labour market for 20 years. These are among the findings of new statistics published on 6 March 2003 by the Danish Employers’ Confederation, (Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening, DA), covering disputes in the (major) part of the Danish labour market covered by DA and the Confederation of Danish Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen i Danmark, LO). The statistics include only unofficial disputes.

More political disputes

The figure below shows the number of days lost due to unofficial disputes, broken down by the reasons for these disputes, over 1998-2002. In 2001, some 800 working days were lost due to work stoppages which were political or motivated by trade union policy – a figure which, according to DA, increased dramatically to 27,500 in 2002. It was, in particular, the government’s proposed legislation on part-time work which brought the increase (DK0206102N). The proposal met with widespread opposition from trade unions and led to work stoppages, union meetings and demonstrations. The government’s proposal for a new finance act also led to work stoppages. According to DA, the unions’ reactions to political initiatives accounted for 80% of the increase in the total number of disputes from 2001 to 2002.

Working days lost due to unofficial disputes, by reason, 1998-2002

Source: DA Konflikt Statistik, March 2003.

There were also minor increases in the number of disputes arising as a consequence of wage issues and dismissals. There was also an increase in disputes for 'other' reasons, which mostly involve individual disputes. Furthermore, there was a significant increase in 2002 in the number of cases of sympathy action - the number of such disputes rose from four in 2001 to 22 in 2002 and the number of lost working days from 286 in 2001 to 2,500 in 2002.

Comparisons with previous years

Looking back over the five-year period 1998-2002, there were also many unofficial work stoppages in 2000 (78,000 lost working days) and 1998 (85,000 lost days). In both years, negotiations took place over the renewal of collective agreements in the major LO/DA bargaining area (DK9805168F and DK0002167F). 1998 saw a large-scale conflict lasting for 11 days, resulting in 3 million lost working days (DK9804166N), but this dispute was official, as notice had been given in accordance with the rules on industrial action, and is not included in the DA statistics which cover only unofficial disputes. This makes comparing the annual figures easier. Even in 1998 and 2000, when collective bargaining rounds took place, the number of politically-motivated unofficial disputes was not as high as in 2002. 1998 came closest with 23,500 lost working days due to political and union policy issues. In 2000, most disputes concerned wages, while political/policy issues accounted for only 11,000 lost working days.

Commentary

It is unusual that so many working days should be lost through industrial action in a year, such as 2002, when no bargaining over new collective agreements took place. DA sees the large number of lost working days as a consequence of the trade unions making the labour market the battlefield for their opposition to the government’s political initiatives. This interpretation seems logical considering the Liberal/Conservative government’s challenges to the unions, especially during the first half of 2002 (DK0112147F).

However, the DA statistics are not broken down by sector. An important factor in the increased level of unofficial strikes in 2002 is that from August, the meat-processing and slaughterhouse sector became covered by the DA statistics, when the Employers' Association of the Meat Industry (Slagteriernes Arbejdsgiverforening, SA) joined the Confederation of Danish Industries (Dansk Industri, DI) and thus DA (DK0208102F). The food, drink and tobacco industry, largely because of disputes in meat-processing and slaughterhouses, has over the past four years been at the top of the list of the sectors prone to work stoppages, including unofficial work stoppages, according to the statistics published by Statistics Denmark, which are based on reports from public and private employers' organisations.

The Statistics Denmark figure for 2002 has not yet been fully calculated but, according to the Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Nærings- og Nydelsesmiddelforbundet, NNF), the previous record for work stoppages in meat processing and slaughterhouses, set in 2001, was exceeded in 2002. In 2001, there were 152 work stoppages in meat processing and slaughterhouses alone (out of 188 in the entire food, drink and tobacco sector), and in 2002 this figure increased to 196. In 2001 - before meat processing and slaughterhouses came under the DA umbrella - the total number of working days lost in the sector stood at 20,500. Although the number of working days lost in 2002 is not yet available, the figure will probably be at the same level.

According to an NNF survey in January 2003, the work stoppages in meat processing and slaughterhouses in 2002 were almost exclusively caused by cooperation problems and dissatisfaction with the management at the Danish Crown company. This does not appear to be borne out in the category of disputes caused by 'cooperation issues' in DA’s dispute statistics for 2002, suggesting that these disputes must, for reasons unknown, be included under the category 'other'. In other words, the major overall increase in DA's statistics for working days lost through unofficial disputes in 2002 may, on the one hand, be attributed to the fact that the meat processing and slaughterhouse sector is now included. On the other hand, this does not seem to affect the high level of action caused by political and trade union policy issues, but maybe suggests that the figure for disputes due to cooperation issues should be higher. (Carsten Jørgensen, FAOS)