Denmark: union membership is decreasing, threatening the Danish model

1,045,000 employees (39%) aren’t members of a union organization that signed an agreement.  Among these, one in three (versus one in four in 1995) isn’t a union member at all.  It’s the first time so many Danish people have sulked unionization, according to a study commissioned by LO and carried out by the labor market research center (FAOS) of the University of Copenhagen, together with the Arbejderbevægelsens Erhvervsråd (AE) economic research institute.  Published last week and entitled “The Evolution of Union Organization – Causes and Consequences for the Danish Model,” it draws an in-depth profile of these Danish people, qualified of “dodgers” because they make the most of the collective agreements negotiated by traditional trade unions without paying the price.  They’re mainly young employees in the private sector, with little or no specialization, of foreign origin or with a low income.  Most work in services, a booming sector.
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and entitled “The Evolution of Union Organization – Causes and Consequences for the Danish Model,” it draws an in-depth profile of these Danish people, qualified of “dodgers” because they make the most of the collective agreements negotiated by traditional trade unions without paying the price. They’re mainly young employees in the private sector, with little or no specialization, of foreign origin or with a low income. Most work in services, a booming sector.

Drain from traditional unions.

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