Danish deals deliver more money

The current round of negotiations in Denmark has produced changes at national level which will result in more money in workers’ pockets. Most pay elements are negotiated locally, but the central negotiations, which involve several parallel negotiations in different industries at the same time, are still important.

One key settlement is that for large parts of manufacturing industry, which is negotiated with a grouping of unions known as CO-industri.

The deal, which runs for two years and covers around 230,000 employees, improves net pay by reducing workers’ contributions to pensions by 2%. These costs are transferred to the employers. In another change, the amount employers pay into workers’ so-called “discretionary account” goes up from 7% of pay to 9%. This can be used for extra salary, extra time off, additional pensions or additional childcare days.