Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1989, published 76th ILC session (1989)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Denmark (Ratification: 1955)

With reference to its previous comments relating to restrictions on the free fixing of wage rates, the Committee takes note of the Government's report. It also notes the conclusions reached by the Committee on Freedom of Association in Cases Nos. 1418 (presented by the Seamen's Union), 1443 (presented by the Danish Computer Workers' Trade Union) and 1470 (presented by several national federations) (approved by the Governing Body respectively in March 1988, November 1988 and March 1989: see 254th Report, paras. 200 to 227, 259th Report, paras. 163 to 197 and 262nd Report, paras. 33 to 78) where that Committee considered that various interventions by the public authorities in the collective bargaining process in different sectors have infringed the principle of free collective bargaining contrary to Article 4 of the Convention.

According to the Government's report, during 1987 the renewal of collective agreements took place without industrial action on a major scale and, in most occupational fields, the parties reached agreement on several major issues before the services of the Public Conciliator were called upon. The parties themselves initiated a new concept of four-year long agreements (so as to phase in reductions in the working week) with mid-term negotiations on some items possible in the spring of 1989. Agreement was not reached in some minor fields in the public sector. The Government states that it was obliged to intervene to end industrial action and prolong some agreements: Act No. 246 of 8 May 1987 for junior hospital doctors, Act No. 542 of 20 August 1987 for computer workers, Act No. 657 of 15 October 1987 for the seamen running the only island ship service for the state-owned company "Bornholmstrafikken" and Act No. 289 of 20 May 1987 for ambulance drivers and emergency fire-service workers.

In the private sector, explains the Government, the Public Conciliator used the linking provisions of the Act on Conciliation in Industrial Disputes to extend a general draft agreement concluded on 11 February 1987 to one part of this sector - represented by the Seamen's Union and the Danish Shipowners' Association - where negotiations were taking place towards renewing its own agreement. The Government adds that Parliament adopted Act No. 408 of 1 July 1988 to set up the Danish International Ships' Register, the aim of which is to improve the competitiveness of the Danish merchant fleet and thus to strengthen employment on board Danish ships. Section 10 of this Act introduces special rules concerning collective agreements for ships registered on the Danish International Ships' Register.

The Government is of the opinion that - in view of the collective bargaining procedure and traditions built up by the social partners in Denmark since the end of the last century, including those regulated aspects such as the powers vested in the independent Public Conciliator - its actions are in complete accordance with the spirit of this Convention. The Government particularly objects to the criticism by the Committee on Freedom of Association of the prolongation of agreements for four years on two counts, namely: (1) that the parties themselves decided to break with the traditional two-year long agreements in favour of four-yearly agreements, and (2) that certain pay-related items can be negotiated as early as the spring of 1989.

The Committee acknowledges that this Convention, according to Article 6, does not deal with the position of public servants engaged in the administration of the State. It also recalls that respect for the autonomy of the parties to collective bargaining can be waived only for compelling reasons of national economic interest. It is clear that the workers in the sectors touched by the various interventions - such as computer workers employed in the tabulation of statistics, or interns - are not public servants engaged in the administration of the State and therefore cannot be denied the right to voluntary negotiations with a view to the regulation of terms and conditions of employment by means of collective agreements as provided for under Article 4 of the Convention.

Likewise, it is evident that even if the Government sincerely believed that it was or would be faced with a series of national economic crises, the various measures taken went beyond the criteria of acceptable intervention by the public authorities in the bargaining process, namely that the restriction of free collective bargaining should be exceptional, applied only to the extent necessary, without exceeding a reasonable period and accompanied by adequate safeguards to protect the standard of living of the workers concerned (General Survey, para. 315). The Committee bases its conclusion on the following grounds: as the Government's own report and the many cases presented to the Governing Body Committee and discussed in the present Committee over recent years show, such interventions are not exceptional measures but are resorted to on a regular basis when bargaining and conciliation appear to be dead-locked; it is debatable whether the interventions are used only to the extent necessary because, although several specific sectors have each been the subject of a specific intervention, the measures affect both private and public areas and, in one case, imposed an outside settlement at the very point when negotiations were nearing a successful conclusion (Case No. 1418); the interventions are in some cases permanent (Act No. 408, referred to in Case No. 1470) or are to last for four years, although the Committee takes due note of the Government's stand on this point; and the interventions - except for Act No. 408 - do not appear to address the question of maintaining the workers' standard of living.

Given that these various measures therefore are not in conformity with the requirements of Article 4, the Committee asks the Government: (1) to amend Act No. 408 so as to ensure that collective bargaining through their chosen representatives is open to all seafarers employed on Danish internationally registered ships; (2) to ensure that those sectors which are opening bargaining in the spring of 1989 - albeit on limited items in their collective agreements - will be able to negotiate free from interference by the public authorities, and that, more generally, collective bargaining on a voluntary basis, free from any restriction, will resume as rapidly as possible.

It requests the Government to inform it of the outcome of the next negotiations. [The Government is requested to supply full particulars to the Conference at its 76th Session.]