Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Denmark (Ratification: 1951)

Article 2 of the Convention. Right of workers, without distinction whatsoever, to join organizations. The Committee notes that, according to section 7 of the DIS agreement, seafarers not resident in Denmark working on board DIS ships who are employed according to a collective agreement may choose to be a member of a Danish trade union. The Committee requests the Government to clarify whether seafarers not resident in Denmark working on board DIS ships who are individually employed (section 8 of the DIS agreement) also have the right to be members of a Danish trade union.

Article 3. Right of workers’ organizations to organize their administration and activities. In several previous direct requests, the Committee requested the Government to provide information on the progress made to ensure that all teachers, regardless of their classification as public servants, may exercise strike action without penalty. The Committee notes that the Government indicates in its report that giving civil servants the right to strike would require a major change of the employment conditions for civil servants, which does not seem expedient as the number of persons employed under the Civil Servant Act is continuously reduced, and that at present there are 60,700 teachers, of whom 12,339 are civil servants. The Committee also notes that the Government indicates that civil servants in Denmark have favourable conditions of employment and a favourable pension scheme and that, furthermore, a teacher has the possibility to give up being a civil servant and choose the form of employment which includes the right to strike. The Committee recalls that it has always considered that the right to strike is one of the essential means available to workers and their organizations for the promotion and protection of their economic and social interests. While accepting that the right to strike may be restricted or even prohibited in the public service, the Committee has clearly established that such a limitation may be applied only in the case of public servants exercising authority in the name of the State. In the Committee’s view teachers are not included in this category and should therefore have the right to strike, although the maintenance of a minimum service may be foreseen in the event of strikes in this sector. While noting the steady decrease in the number of teachers with civil servant status, the Committee once again requests the Government to take the necessary measures so that teachers who have chosen to keep their status as civil servants may have recourse to strike action without the risk of being sanctioned.