Before the coronavirus hit Denmark, there was a great deal of drama about this year's negotiations. The big drama was about the minimum wage, where the construction workers demanded a significantly higher minimum wage and protection against social dumping.
When the bargaining began, Denmark was a completely different place. The private companies made good money and the future of the country's economy looked bright. However the Employers and unions could not agree on a significantly higher minimum wage. Negotiations was hard, and the main organizations FH and DA ended up in mediation with the special negotiator (forligsmanden). If no agreement was reached, it could end up with a nationwide conflict in Denmark.
But then came Corona, who became a game changer. Many private companies, now faced financial problems and had to lay off employees. The special negosiator refused to close the negotiations. And in this situation, the unions and the Employers made a collective agreement, that did not give the construction workers their main demand for a significantly higher minimum wage.
BJMF recommended that you vote no, but the nationwide 3F and many others recommended a yes to the collective agreement, not least in light of the Corona crisis.
BJMF recommended that you vote no, but the nationwide 3F and many others recommended a yes to the collective agreement, not least in light of the Corona crisis.
Now the 600.000 workers from many different industries in the private labor market have now voted, each on their own collective agreement. But in the overall result, everyone is counted together. The industrial alone have 230,000 employees, construction have 60.000 employees.
The result of the voting on the new collective agreement OK20 became an overall yes, although members of the BJMF voted no.
- In BJMF overall, 71.3% voted no to the new agreement
- With a voting turnout of 62.6%. the second highest in 3F
- Throughout 3F, 67.9% voted yes
- With a overall voting turnout of 48.8%
- In the entire FH (LO) area, 79.8 voted yes
With a overall voting turnout of 57.6%