In the morning of Sunday the 9th of February 2020 an agreement was reached in the collective bargaining round of the Danish manufacturing sector.

The agreement covers 230.000 blue- and white-collar workers in the manufacturing sector and spearheads the negotiations in the private sector, where the collective agreements for approximately 600.000 blue- and white-collar workers are currently being negotiated.

The central board of CO-industri approved the agreement on the 10th of February. When the remaining sectors have concluded their negotiations, all agreements are collected in a framework agreement and put to the vote among all trade union members covered by a relevant collective agreement. The result of this vote is expected in the beginning of April 2020.

The contents of the agreement are as follows (the number in brackets refers to the actual paper where the change/addition to the collective agreement is written).  The collective agreements from 2020-23 are available in English here https://www.co-industri.dk/produkter/industrial-agreement-2020-2023 :

Duration

1st March 2020 until 1st March 2023.

First Common European Demand on Education and training

Agreed education and training is made a permanent feature (11).

The use of agreed education and training during short-time-work periods is made easier (16).

Education and training possibilities in case of layoffs have been improved, ensuring that workers with at least 3 years seniority have the possibility of 5 weeks of education and training during their period of notice (25).

The employers financing of the fond for education and cooperation is increased from 0,60 DKK per working hour performed in the manufacturing sector to 0,65 DKK (42).

Second Common European Demand on Precarious and Atypical Employment

The partners have agreed to establish a committee to discuss and monitor the development concerning the temporary hiring in of workers employed in non-temporary agency companies (30).

Furthermore the partners have agreed to establish a committee to monitor and discuss the extent of the use of non-standard employment forms (31).

The partners recommend that companies intending to use subcontracted workers from non-danish companies informs the shop steward and provide all relevant background information, such as the nature of work and expected duration. The local partners can request a meeting where all relevant background information is to be provided in case there is any doubt on the pay- and employment relation for these workers (35).

Using the principle of equal treatment, the pay for posted workers covered by the collective agreement is to be set using the relevant regulations in the collective agreement, which takes into account qualifications, education, skill level and the content and responsibility in the particular job etc. Compensation for covering actual costs for travel, lodging and meals etc. cannot be calculated as part of the pay. If there is doubt as to the nature of the compensation and if this cannot be sufficiently clarified, the compensation cannot be calculated as part of the pay (36).

Optional pay account

The optional pay account is increased from 4 to 7 pct. in 1 pct. increments on 1st March 2020, 1st March 2021 and 1st March 2022 (22).

The optional pay account was introduced in 2007 and gives the employees the option to increase their pay, increase their pension or increase the number of days off (holidays, senior holidays, days of caring for children etc.)

Companies becoming members of the Confederation of Danish Industry after 1st March 2020 have an option to gradually implement the optional pay account.

A committee will be established to investigate ways of lessening the administration concerning the optional pay account (32).

Pension

The fines for companies neglecting to pay pension contributions is increased (2).

Pension contribution is also to be paid on sick leave holiday money (8).

Actions are to be taken for workers with few hours where the administrative costs and insurance costs of the pension fund reduces the actual pension contribution considerably (17).

Workers employed past the time of receiving state pension, can choose to have the labour market pension fund contributions paid out as salary (21).

Apprentices

Seniority from previous employment and training is recognized where relevant (4).

Labour Market Pension rights are now accrued from the day the apprentice turns 18 years. 4% will be paid by the employer and 2% will be paid by the apprentice. Apprentices that are 20 years or older have the same labour market pension rights as trained workers (26).

Health and safety

The provisions on the handling and prevention of harassment has been improved (6).

The employer grants a leave of absence with full pay when the Health and Safety representative participates in HSA courses provided by the trade unions affiliated to CO-industri on top of the rights for education and training for HSA’s flowing from the relevant legislation (28).

HSA representatives have the right to have access to relevant IT facilities to carry out their duties (29).

Working time

Work on non-coastal sea windmills now carries the possibility to deviate from the collective agreement via an agreement between the local shop steward and the company in order to facilitate 14 days of continuous work followed by 14 days of rest onshore. The framework for this type of deviation needs to be approved by the Health and Safety authorities (9).

Digitalisation and the green transition

The cooperation committees at the local level and the TEKSAM secretariat is to focus on industry 4.0 with a view to handle the green transition of the manufacturing sector (10).

Data protection

The partners have agreed to ensure that the current practise for collecting, storing, processing and communicating sensitive personal information can continue in conformity with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (23).

Absence from work due to illness

The employer is now obligated to provide full pay during illness for an additional five weeks (33).

Work life balance

In the case of children’s illness, the employee now has the right for one additional day off without pay, this can be compensated by using the Optional Pay Account. (37).

Parental leave with full pay is increased by three weeks to a total of 16 weeks. The mother has the right to 5 weeks and the father has the right to 8 weeks and the additional three weeks are optional for either parent. In case the parental leave reserved for the specific parent is not used, the other parent can use the leave without compensation of pay (39).

Hourly pay rates

The wage-floor for blue collar workers is increased to 122,15 DKK (16,35 EUR) on 1st March 2020. 124,65 DKK (16,69 EUR) on the 1st March 2021 and 127,15 DKK (17,02 EUR) on 1st March 2022 (47).

The pay for apprentices is increased 1,7% on 1st March 2020. 1,7% on 1st March 2021 and 1,7% on 1st March 2022 (47).

The actual wage level is negotiated locally once a year, where the local shop steward meets with the local company management to negotiate in particular wage increases, but also other items.