Collective bargaining 2017: Marked improvements obtained in the mediation proposal

Today, the Official Conciliator presented the draft mediation proposal for the collective bargaining in the private sector.

With this draft, approximately 500,000 workers in the private sector within the area covered by LO and DA (the central organisation for employers) are another step closer to collective agreement renewal. The life of the collective agreements is 3 years and the members will vote on the mediation proposal. The ballot on the collective agreement proposal 2017 starts on 26 March and the result will be ready by 20 April.

– We are sensing that the financial crisis is releasing its hold on the companies. Decent pay rises have been obtained – and we have maintained a sharp focus on how to ensure that workers can acquire the skills necessary for the labour market of tomorrow. We have felt very strongly about ensuring marked improvements for families with children and senior staff, says LO-President Lizette Risgaard.

Full pay during parental leave                                                                                                                                        

Parents will now have better opportunities for taking time off to care for sick children – and many now have full pay during parental leave – which provides an opportunity and an incentive for more men to take a greater share of the parental leave.

– At the same time, it has been a priority to provide improvements for those workers who are in their senior years and who might want to wind down before retiring. We have ensured them an opportunity to take extra senior days off, says Lizette Risgaard.

More measures to fight social dumping                                                                                                                 

The efforts to combat social dumping are strengthened further with a number of initiatives.

– We have ensured an insight into the employers? use of temporary workers and sub-contractors, partly to ensure that it takes place on collective agreement conditions and partly to counter employers trying to circumvent the collective agreements, says LO?s President, Lizette Risgaard.

The Danish model at its best                                                                                                                                                     

We have a unique labour market model in Denmark where workers and employers meet to agree on pay- and working conditions. The Danish model is based on mutual trust and it has provided us with the world?s most secure and flexible labour market, and this is something to be proud of, says Lizette Risgaard, while also praising the Official Conciliator, Mr Ole Hasselgaard.

– Ole Hasselgaard has demonstrated excellent breadth of view and has ensured a successful conclusion of the final step in the collective agreement process.   He deserves many thanks for this – and I am sure that the employers will agree, says Lizette Risgaard.

The draft mediation proposal will be put to the ballot among LO’s members.

Facts on the collective agreement renewals: Collective agreements are one of the pillars of the Danish labour market model. In Denmark, we maintain that the labour market works best if workers and employers negotiate pay, working time, pensions etc. LO’s role As a coordinator, LO oversees the progress of negotiations in the different collective agreement areas. This role is especially important once negotiations are moved to the Conciliation Board. LO and DA do not negotiate collective agreements themselves. The two social partners see to the coordination of the negotiations on the worker- and employer- side. And they join in completing the draft as the conciliator presents the mediation proposal. The Conciliation Board The Conciliation Board is tasked with preventing industrial disputes on the labour market. The unions and employers who cannot agree on a renewal of their collective agreements will be summoned by the conciliator who will then try to mediate between them. His aim to help complete as many collective agreements as possible before he presents a complete mediation proposal, which can be put to the ballot. All settlements will be joined in one mediation proposal in order to combine them all in one ballot. Therefore, even though the social partners in, for example, the industrial sector, reaches a settlement without the assistance of the conciliator, it will still be entered into the agreement, that it can only be applied if it becomes part of a complete mediation proposal. It is ?one for all and all for one?. The aim is to reduce the risk of an industrial dispute, and in this way, it becomes harder to vote down a complete mediation proposal. The Mediation proposal                                                                                                                                                Collective bargaining usually ends with the presentation of a joint mediation proposal by the conciliator. There are always a number of elements that are repeated in the settlements and they are entered into the mediation proposal. They can then be transferred to the – often very few – areas where it has not been possible to reach agreement.