Jørgensen, Carsten

The Confederation of Danish Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen i Danmark, LO) is ready to discuss the inclusion of clauses on flexible working time arrangements in a larger number of collective agreements. It believes that considerations of family life and health should be better combined with individual employees' wishes relating to when and how much they work. LO sees flexibility as more or less a life-long process: young people may easily work up to 50 hours per week - as is typically seen in the information technology sector - and in return it should be possible for them to work fewer hours when they have children and/or become older. It should be possible to deduct the hours saved up during the early part of working life from weekly working time when the need arises. Normal weekly hours should remain at 37.

Ambitious quadripartite negotiations on the "inclusive labour market" were scheduled to start in early October 2000, involving the government, local authorities and the social partners - the Confederation of Danish Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen i Danmark, LO) and the Danish Employers' Confederation (Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening, DA). The aim was to increase employment, mainly by supporting groups with a reduced capacity to work, such as long-term unemployed people, some groups of people with disabilities and those on long-term sick leave. This was to be achieved by means of state-subsidised jobs with special conditions, including "flexi-jobs" (DK9906130N [1]). Surprisingly, the negotiations were postponed with reference to the ongoing negotiations concerning the 2001 state finance Act. However, this turned out not to be the full truth - in reality, the negotiations had become deadlocked and, in spite of several attempts to relaunch them, no progress has since been made. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/government-target-of-40000-flexi-jobs-almost-achieved

In a study carried out in spring 2000, the Danish National Institute for Social Research (Socialforskningsinstituttet, SFI) found that there is still a wage gap of about 16%-17% between men and women (DK0006182F [1]).The study concluded that only a small part of this wage gap is attributable to factors such as education/training, seniority or family status, with the remainder unaccounted for. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined-social-policies/danish-women-still-a-long-way-from-equal-pay

No significant national, regional or local elections were held in 2000 in Denmark. The present ruling coalition, composed of the Social Democratic Party (Socialdemokratiet) and the Social Liberal Party (Det Radikale Venstre), has formed the government for nine years and is now widely deemed to be suffering from general fatigue. Following controversy over the reform of the voluntary early retirement scheme in 1998 (DK9812197F [1]), Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen suffered a serious loss of credibility which he has found difficult to restore, and the result of the referendum on joining the European single currency (see below) signalled a further weakening of his position. In December 2000 there was a government reshuffle of certain ministerial posts following the decision of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Niels Helveg Petersen, to resign after the Nice European Council and the appointment of the Minister for Defence, Hans Hækkerup, to the post of chief for UN activities in Kosovo. The Minister for Foreign Affairs found that he could no longer credibly administer Denmark's EU policy after the voters had rejected the single currency. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/social-policies-undefined/new-early-retirement-rules-cause-controversy

An agreement concluded on 31 October 2000 between the Danish Commerce and Service (Dansk Handel & Service, DHS) employers' organisation and the Union of Commercial and Clerical Employees in Denmark (Handels- og Kontorfunktionærernes Forbund/Service, HK/Service) provides that the "11-hour rule" on rest periods will no longer have to be observed by those of the 95,000 members of HK/Service who work at home. It has thus been made easier for employees in commerce and services to perform their work at home and to telework.

More than four out of five Danish employees are now covered by a collective agreement, according to a major questionnaire-based study undertaken by the Confederation of Danish Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen i Danmark, LO), in cooperation with the National Institute for Social Research (Socialforskningsinstituttet, SFI) and a labour market researcher from the Copenhagen School of Business Administration (Handelshøjskolen i København), Steen Scheuer ("Employment and organisational structures" 2000 [Ansættelses og organisationsforhold 2000], LO, November 2000 [1]). [1] http://130.227.50.108/mediafiles/newdoc/PDFS/6/ansµtt-orgforhold2000.pdf

As part of the difficulties surrounding acceptance of the Maastricht Treaty on European Union in 1992-3, Denmark negotiated an opt-out from participation in the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the introduction of the euro single currency from 1 January 1999 (DK0004175F [1]). A referendum on reversing this opt-out was held on 28 September 2000, and resulted in a narrow, but still comfortable majority for continued non-participation in the euro-zone. As in earlier referenda concerning the EU, the turnout was high, at 88.1%, and 53.2% voted "no" and 46.8% "yes" to joining the euro. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined-industrial-relations/unions-and-employers-organisations-both-recommend-a-danish-yes-to-emu

New wage figures for the second quarter of 2000, presented by the Danish Employers' Confederation (Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening, DA) on 14 August 2000, reveal that the rate of wage increases is falling in spite of a historically low level of unemployment and a strong growth in exports (according to an economic forecast published at the same time by the Confederation of Danish Industries (Dansk Industri, DI)). On average, wages increased by 3.4% from the second quarter of 1999 to the second quarter of 2000 in the sectors covered by agreements between organisations affiliated to the DA and the Confederation of Danish Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen i Danmark, LO). The figures were welcomed by economists and business groups .

In spite of the falling number of young people - in 2000, there are about 15,000 fewer 20-year-olds in Denmark than five years previously - it has generally been possible to maintain the high level of applications for admission to higher education. According to a preliminary survey of applicants to higher education based on figures from the Ministry of Education, published on 12 July, in 2000 nearly 62,000 applicants have applied for admission to a continued education programme, about 2,000 more than in 1999. This high figure is notably the result of 15 new vocational education programmes, which have attracted 9,327 applicants. The interest in these new short, vocationally-oriented programmes which may, for instance, lead to jobs in laboratory work, banks and information technology, has led to an increase in applicants of more than 3,000 over the past year.

An exceptional campaign to oppose discrimination against foreigners on the Danish labour market has been launched by 13 journals of professional associations - such as those representing engineers, lecturers, psychologists, economists and pharmacists - with a total of 183,393 subscribers. Very symbolically, the campaign was launched on 5 June 2000, Danish Constitution Day: 151 years ago, Denmark's first Constitution established a number of democratic rights to be enjoyed by all Danish citizens.