A great drama surrounding a building site at Nørrebro in Copenhagen has taken place over the past few days and the morning of the 1/12 -2019 has culminated with stone throwing and a scaffold that has been overturned.
There are a large number of scaffolding workers who, on Monday morning, quit the job and showed up at Lundtoftegade in Nørrebro in protest against a construction company accused of social dumping and setting up a illegal scaffold.
On Sunday evening, two union activists, a scaffolding worker from 3F and an employee from the Danish Electricity Federation, were allegedly assaulted and bullied as they wanted to document the conditions at the construction site.
Claus von Elling, chairman of 3F Byggegruppen, which organizes almost 60,000 construction workers, including scaffolding workers, is react sharply on the situation.
- It is not okay for a union case to escalate in this way, and we sharply distance us from violence, regardless of who commits it, says Claus von Elling.
- It is also important for us to say loudly and clearly that we abstain from unlawful strikes, if any, and we urge our members to comply with the peace obligation, the construction chairman continues.
The duty of peace is a provision in Danish labor law, which obliges employees to refrain from conflicts and strikes during the period of the collective agreement.
Ended in violence
The entire clash at Lundtoftegade started as a union case, where Copenhagen unions have discovered unlawful wage and working conditions at the construction site, but up to the weekend the case took a whole new turn.
Last Friday, a scaffold on the construction site was overturned, and on Sunday evening it ended in violence, when a activist scaffolding worker and a employee from the Danish Electricity Federation, respectively, were given a serious beating.
The Copenhagen Police confirm to Fagbladet 3F that two people were attacked by a large group of people on Sunday evening.
"There was some riot in the site, but we have not arrested anyone in the case," said the police.
Daniel Dyhrberg, a unionemployee at 3F's Copenhagen Construction Workers union (BJMF), was present when the two people were beaten.
He says that a scaffolding worker from 3F and an employee from the Danish Electricity Federation were suddenly attacked by a group of men connected to the construction site.
- Four Lithuanian-speaking men surrounded the activist. Suddenly, one of them punches him directly in the face, so he falls over, Daniel says.
The scaffolding worker then ran into hiding while Daniel Dyhrberg contacted the police.
- I talked to him shortly after the assault. He is clearly very shocked. It was very violent, says Daniel Dyhrberg.
Documented conditions
The trade union 3F has also spoken to the employee from the Danish Electricity Federation, who was assaulted. He wants to remain anonymous, but says he was standing outside the construction site on Sunday evening filming the working construction workers when a white car with six people drove towards him.
- They got out of the car and immediately start beating me, so I fall to the ground. I got kicked in the head a few times before I got up and run away, he says.
The two union men were in the process of documenting conditions at the construction site due to suspicion of unsafe work and poor working conditions when they were turned down.
Tear down scaffolding and smashed car
Apparently, the violence incident on Sunday night has got the scaffolding workers on the barricades this morning. The scaffolding workers are also unhappy that scaffolding has been set up on the construction site by unorganized and uneducated construction workers.
On video footage from Ekstra Bladet you can see that the many people in attendance storm the construction site and that a scaffold is torn down from the house under construction, so that it topples over several sheds. Later, images have emerged of a white Porsche, which has been turned upside down and smashed. Police had turned up to put a damper on the scaffold workers.
Domea is the client of the construction project at Lundtoftegade, and Dansk Boligbyg A / S is the general contractor. The disputed company that employs Lithuanians and is accused of social dumping is the subcontractor DS Byggeri. DS Byggeri is said to have been taken off the projekt today, and this has helped to calm the otherwise tense situation.