1999 was a peaceful year on the Danish labour market

Jørgensen, Carsten

Panoramica

Articolo

1999 was a peaceful year on the Danish labour market

Pubblicato: 27 May 2000

Carsten Jørgensen

Azioni sindacali

The annual survey published by Statistics Denmark concerning work stoppages during the preceding year shows that 1999 was a peaceful year on the Danish labour market: 91,800 working days were lost due to work stoppages in 1999, compared with 3,173,000 in 1998. Table 1 below gives the figures for working days lost from 1997-9, broken down by quarters.

According to figures from Statistics Denmark, 1999 was a peaceful year on the Danish labour market, compared with the very turbulent year of 1998 when more than 3 million working days were lost due to the large-scale industrial dispute in the area of the private sector covered by the LO trade union confederation and DA employers' confederation. The number of days lost in 1999 was 91,800, although the number of work stoppages remained fairly stable.

The annual survey published by Statistics Denmark concerning work stoppages during the preceding year shows that 1999 was a peaceful year on the Danish labour market: 91,800 working days were lost due to work stoppages in 1999, compared with 3,173,000 in 1998. Table 1 below gives the figures for working days lost from 1997-9, broken down by quarters.

It can be said that "silence follows a storm" and the fall in number of working days lost in 1999 compared with 1998 should be seen in the light of the large-scale dispute in the area of the private sector covered by the Danish Employers' Confederation (Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening, DA) and the the Confederation of Danish Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen i Danmark, LO) in April-May 1998, which ran for 11 days (DK9805168F). This dispute in itself resulted in more than 3 million lost working days.

**Table 1. Working days lost through industrial action, by quarters 1997-9**
.	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter	Total
1997	51,600	34,100	7,100	8,900	101,700
1998	40,800	3,093,000	16,600	22,600	3,173,000
1999	15,100	32,500	21,500	22,700	91,800

Source: Statistics Denmark, Labour Market No. 19, April 2000.

Breakdown by sector

All sectors experienced very major falls in the number of working days lost from 1998 to 1999 - see table 2 below. The industry sector traditionally accounts for the largest number of working days lost, and this is the case even in peaceful years. In 1999, the number of working days lost in the industry sector was thus 58,400, or nearly 65% of the overall total. Within the industry sector, the food, tobacco and beverages industry accounted for nearly half of the working days lost, with 27,900. By way of comparison, the industry sector lost 1,523,500 working days in 1998 due to work stoppages, 166,800 of them in the food, tobacco and beverages industry. The iron and metal industry accounted for the largest number of work stoppages in 1999 with 201 strikes, compared with 188 in the food, tobacco and beverages industry.

**Table 2. Work stoppages by sector, 1999**
.	No. of work stoppages	No. of employees affected	No. of working days lost
Total 1998	1,257	502,258	3,173, 000
Total 1999	1,079	75,170	91,800
1999	.	.	.
Industry	628	47,546	58,400
Of which:	.	.	.
Food, tobacco and beverages	188	20,333	27,900
Textiles	7	92	100
Wood and graphical	134	8,151	5,900
Chemicals	37	1,445	1,400
Stone and glass	36	1,393	2,300
Iron and metal	201	13,928	15,800
Furniture, others	25	2,204	500
Energy and water supply	9	382	600
Building and construction	72	1,534	2,900
Trade	45	1,305	2,200
Hotels and restaurants	11	438	300
Transport	92	5,979	6,300
Counties and municipalities	195	16,796	20,300

Source: Statistics Denmark, Labour Market No. 19, April 2000.

Commentary

1999 has been characterised as one of the most peaceful years on the labour market since 1981. This also appears from the statistics on industrial disputes published by DA., which cover only unlawful work stoppages in that part of the private sector covered by collective agreements concluded by member organisations of DA and LO. According to Danish rules there is an almost universal "peace obligation" during the term of a collective agreement; this means that those disputes which do occur - for instance, due to disagreements about local pay negotiations - will by definition be unlawful. This is also the reason why such disputes - as shown by the DA figures - are typically short, with each leading to only a small number of working days lost. The major industrial dispute in 1998 - which was a lawful dispute in connection with the renewal of the collective agreements - was quite exceptional in the Danish context, with more than 3 million working days lost. Such major disputes, according to the normal "rules of the game", generally take place only at intervals of about 10 years. On the other hand, each year sees a number of unlawful disputes. Even in a peaceful year such as 1999 such short protest strikes seem to be part of the system. If we disregard this major lawful dispute in 1998 and look only at the unlawful disputes, there was a clear fall from 1998 to 1999, from 999 to 713 disputes resulting in 85,000 and 43,809 lost working days respectively - even in the peaceful year of 1999. (Jørgen Steen Madsen, FAOS)

Eurofound raccomanda di citare questa pubblicazione nel seguente modo.

Eurofound (2000), 1999 was a peaceful year on the Danish labour market, article.