Jørgensen, Carsten

In recent times, Denmark's two largest trade unions, the United Federation of Workers (Fagligt Fælles Forbund, 3F) and the Union of Commercial and Clerical Employees in Denmark (Handels og Kontorfunktionærernes Forbund, HK), have been obtaining increasing amounts of compensation for their members through lawsuits or arbitration. This has attracted attention in the media, with spring 2005 seeing newspaper headlines such as 'Billions back to the members' and 'The millions are pouring in'. The issue is examined in a new report from the Employment Relations Research Centre (Forskningscenter for Arbejdsmarkeds- og Organisationsstudier, FAOS) at the University of Copenhagen, published in September 2005

Even if it is a precondition for a person to be offered a flexjob that his or her working capacity is considerably and permanently reduced every seventh of the 'flexjobbers' had not received sickness benefits or similar publicly financed subsidies in the year prior to the achievement of a flexjob. This is the result of a survey published by the Confederation of Danish Employer’s (Dansk Arbejdsgiverfiorening, DA’s) magazine Agenda 22 September 2005.

According to a press release issued 24. August 2005 by the Danish Metalworkers Union (Dansk Metal) it has become more and more difficult for employees to return to the workplace after long-term absence due to sickness, a personal crisis or an on-the-job injury. The union Therefore proposes the introduction of a 'social shop steward' whose task is to help the colleague back in the routines of his or hers particular job and deal with possible phycological blockings. The supportive measures begin during the period of absence, where the social shop steward will pay visits after some time of absence to the absent colleague.

On 22 June 2005, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg held a Grand Chamber hearing in order to hear representations in a case concerning closed-shop agreements in Denmark (/Sørensen and Rasmussen v Denmark/, application nos. 52562/99 and 52620/99). In 1999, two Danish citizens lodged complaints against the Danish state of violation of their freedom of association. The case has fundamental importance for the Danish trade union movement and their historic right to sign closed-shop agreements. Especially during the last decade, experts have debated whether closed-shop agreements are out of step with the contemporary conception of human rights. The final ECHR judgment, which will be delivered in autumn 2005, is thus thought likely to have an influence on the Danish model of collective bargaining.

An internal paper drawn up by the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen i Danmark, LO) in summer 2005 examines general features of the development of Danish trade union membership with a particular focus on LO. It finds that the fall in membership continues - see the table below. The membership of LO, Denmark's largest union confederation has now declined for 10 successive years (DK0201159N [1]). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/trade-union-density-falls

More Danish employees in the service and commercial sector choose to receive a number of personal fringe benefits if offered by the employer. This is the result of a survey, which will be published in August 2005, made by the employers’ association Danish Commerce and Service (Dansk Handel & Service, DHS) among its member companies. It is mostly bonus or commision arrangements, but also benefits like free internet and/or daily newspaper, healthy food at work, childcare, share options, keep-fit exercises, additional days off or a company-paid car, which have been chosen by the employees of the companies interviewed in the survey. Four hundred retail and service companies has been involved.

The government formed in November 2001 by the Liberal Party (Venstre) and the Conservative Party (Det Konservative Folkeparti), headed by Venstre leader Anders Fogh Rasmussen, continued in office during 2004. The only election held in 2004 was that to the European Parliament in the spring.

The Danish labour market is as flexible as the UK labour market and, at the same time, employees benefit from a degree of security which is at a similar level to that offered by the Swedish labour market. In recent years, numerous international and Danish studies have confirmed this characteristic feature of the Danish labour market. This is one of the conclusions of a new Danish study on flexibility and job security in the labour market. The combination of 'flexibility and security' is called /flexicurity/ in EU terminology.

A process of cooperation between two trade unions, the Union of Danish Metalworkers (Dansk Metal) and the Danish Society of Engineers (Ingeniørforeningen i Danmark, IDA), and the Danish Federation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (Håndværksrådet, HVR) trade association resulted in May 2005 in a joint report about the consequences for jobs in Denmark of economic globalisation, ie relocation, 'outflagging' or 'offshoring' as it is called in the report.

The yearly publication from Statistics Denmark concerning industrial disputes and lost working days, based on reports from 35 large public and private employers and employers’ associations, shows an increase in the number of strikes and lost working days in 2004 as compared with 2003 - see table 1 (DK0406101N [1]). However, the number of lost working days (76,400) is still moderate and well below the 2002-level (193,600), which is the highest since the major conflict in 1998. In 1998 lost working days amounted to 3,173,000 days due to a conflict of interest in connection with the renewal of the collective agreement in the private sector covered by the main organisations the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen i Danmark, LO) and the Confederation of Danish Employers (Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening, DA) (DK9804166N [2]). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/industrial-action-falls-sharply-in-2003 [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/1998-bargaining-round-ends-in-major-conflict