Agreement reached: Three-year collective agreement for 200,000 state employees

The parties in the state sector have concluded a three-year collective agreement covering around 200,000 state employees. The Minister for Finance, together with Centralorganisationernes Fællesudvalg (CFU) (the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations) and Akademikerne (the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations for Academics), has entered into the agreement, which provides for a total financial framework of 8.7 per cent over the next three years. The first pay increases will take effect already this spring.

The agreement includes, among other things, an extraordinary pay rise for military personnel in the Armed Forces, a new flexible benefits scheme and improvements to conditions related to parental leave and children’s illness. The parties have agreed to allocate DKK 275 million of the total framework to support recruitment and retention in the Armed Forces. The specific implementation will be agreed subsequently with the organisations in the defence sector. In addition, DKK 250 million has been earmarked for increased local wage formation and DKK 20 million for a pay rise for vocational college teachers.

The agreement establishes a flexible benefits account, allowing employees to choose between salary, pension and time off. A flexible leave day will also be introduced for selected staff groups, along with two additional senior days. These days are unpaid, but employees may use funds from the flexible benefits account. At the same time, conditions for families with children are improved, granting paid leave on the day of recall and on a child’s third sick day. Improved pay rights during parental leave have also been agreed, benefiting more groups, including single parents, social parents and close relatives, and the entitlement to pay during shared parental leave is increased by two weeks.

The parties have also agreed to support a flexible and attractive working life in the state sector, including strengthening efforts to prevent and reduce work-related stress through support for local cooperation committees and training of managers in psychosocial working environment issues. The State Competence Fund will continue with an allocation of DKK 190 million, and a number of simplifications will be implemented in the collective agreements to ease administration for state employers.

Minister for Finance Nicolai Wammen says:

-“It is absolutely crucial that we continue to focus on making it attractive to work in the state sector. We depend on skilled people who contribute to the welfare society every day. Denmark is currently in a very special situation, where there is a need for major investments in our common defence and security. Therefore, I am pleased that together with the negotiating parties we can prioritise an extraordinary pay rise of DKK 275 million for military personnel in the Armed Forces, with emphasis on ensuring that the groups currently earning the least will experience the largest relative increase – in addition to the general pay increases. Moreover, we are improving conditions for many families with children by enhancing rights during parental leave and children’s illness. This has been important to me as Minister for Finance.”

The collective agreement result will now be put to a vote among the trade unions and, if approved, will apply from 1 April this year.