Denmark

Union density is high in Denmark, at around two-thirds of the workforce, although it has fallen in recent years. Most union members are in unions associated with the main confederations, the FH and Akademikerne, which are organised on educational lines. However, more than a quarter of trade union members are in bodies outside the two main confederations. 1

Union density and structure

There are 2.4 million trade union members in Denmark and 1.96 million trade unionists who are employees or unemployed. 2 With 3.04 million employees this produces a union density of 64.4% in 2024. 3 This is slightly higher than the figure from the OECD, which adjust the union membership figures downwards to take account of retired and unemployed members. It puts union density in Denmark at 60.4% in 2024. 4

One reason for this high level of membership may be trade union involvement in the administration of unemployment funds. But this is certainly not the only one.

By far the largest trade union confederation in Denmark is FH (Fagbevægelsens Hovedorganisation). It was created in January 2019 from a merger of what were previously Denmark’s two largest union confederations, LO, and FTF. LO unions organised both manual and non-manual workers in the private and public sectors, while the FTF was largely made up of unions of public sector employees like civil servants, teachers and nurses, but also included some private sector non-manual workers, particularly in banking and finance.

FH has 1.3 million members in 62 separate unions, of whom 1.05 million are employees or unemployed. 5 The individual unions are independent, but FH and, in the past, its predecessors LO and FTF have played a critical role in negotiating the framework agreements which have shaped the Danish system.

The second largest grouping is Akademikerne, sometimes called AC (Akademikernes Centralorganisation), which organises graduate level employees in the public and private sectors. Its 26 affiliated unions have 505,000 members (342,103 if only employees and unemployed members are included). 6

There are also large number of members in union bodies outside these two main confederations. The confederation for managers and executives and has 130,000 members, of whom 113,754 are employees, and there are another 454,000 employees who belong to other unions outside the confederations. Many of these union bodies, which generally concentrate on membership services rather than negotiations and compete on price, are described as “yellow unions” by the main confederations for failing to sign collective agreements, have local union representatives or engage in collective action. 7

In total, the union bodies outside the two main confederations had 567,572 employee members in 2024 and made up 28.9% of all trade union members who are employees. 8

Individual unions

Both the FH and Akademikerne confederations have a large number of separate affiliated unions. FH has 62 and Akademikerne 26.

Most FH unions are either relatively small craft unions or specialist non-manual and technical unions, but some have a wider and much larger membership. Overall, the union structure is complex, with a combination of craft, industry and general unions. There are attempts to limit competition for membership through demarcation agreements, but it still exists in some areas.

Details of membership in FH unions are set out in the table. 9

There have been a number of mergers between FH unions in recent years, with the number of FH affiliates dropping from 88 to the current 62. In addition, the financial workers’ union, which had previously not been an affiliate, joined FH in June 2022. 10

As well as belonging to the FH union confederation, unions are also members of a bargaining groups which play a central role in collective bargaining (see Collective bargaining coverage and structure). The most important of these is CO-industri, which brings together nine unions, including parts of 3F, HK, Dansk Metal and Dansk El-Forbund, with a total of 229,547 members. 11

The second largest confederation, Akademikerne, has 26 affiliates. 12 Most are relatively small, with fewer than 20,000 members, but three have more than 50,000 employee and unemployed members each. The largest, Ingeniørforeningen (IDA), which organises engineers, has 167,909 members, although, because it has students, the self-employed and those who have retired in membership, only 113,889 are employees or unemployed. 13 The second largest is Djøf, which organises lawyers, economists and those in similar professions. It has 109,934 members, of whom 74,537 are employees or unemployed. The third largest, Dansk Magisterforening (DM), which organises employees with a higher degree, has 79, 679 members (55,168 employees or unemployed).

Outside the main union confederations, the largest single union is 2B – Bedst og Billigst, which literally translates into “Best and Cheapest”, which has 124,470 employee and unemployed members. Together with two other unions Fagforeningen Danmark (55,561 employee and unemployed members) and FK/TS (20,203 employee and unemployed members) and organisations for the self-employed, it is part of Det Faglige Hus (The Professional House), which claims to be “Denmark’s cheapest union”. Other large union bodies which largely offer services and are described as “yellow unions” by the unions in the confederations, include the Christian union Krifa, with 107,887 employee and unemployed members, ASE, with 72,598, Business Danmark, with 24,248, and FRIE, with 23,759.

In addition to these low-cost unions, Lederne, with 130,000 members, of whom 113,754 are employees or unemployed, represents managers and senior staff.

Political position

The LO, which merged with FTF to form FH in 2019, was historically close to the Danish social democratic party and until 1995 the two bodies were represented on one another’s executive committee. However, it broke its final links with the social democrats at a special congress in February 2003 when it ended the practice of giving the party financial support. With FTF insisting on complete independence from political parties, the issue of the political stance of the new FH confederation was important in the merger discussions.

A jointly agreed statement of political principles in April 2018 made it clear that FH would be independent in party political terms, but that it was willing to cooperate with parties and organisations that “can best promote the interests and influence of the trade union movement”. 14

The current version of this position states that FH “is independent of party politics. In representing political interests, [FH] must cooperate with parties and organizations that want to work for the [confederation’s] policies across the board, based on the values ​​of the trade union movement”. 15 Currently, as a major study in 2023 points out, “the unions have some relations with most major political parties and actively seek to influence most parties”.

Akademikerne makes clear that it is “independent of party politics” 16, while the largest of the low-cost union groups, Det Faglige Hus, goes further and states “we are apolitical”.

Legal framework

The right to set up or join a union – freedom of association – is provided in section 78 of the Danish Constitution, which states that “citizens shall, without previous permission, be free to form associations for any lawful purpose”. 17 This currently implemented by an Act on Freedom of Association last amended in 2006. 18

However, in general the law plays little role in regulating union activities or industrial relations more generally – there is no legislation on union representativeness, for example. Issues, that in other countries are determined by legislation, are, in Denmark, regulated through agreements between unions and employers, particularly the union confederation FH and the employers’ association DA. This approach goes back to the so-called “September compromise” of 1899, reached after a three-month employers’ lock-out, when the unions agreed that the employers had a right to manage and the employers agreed that unions had a right to oragnise.

Membership trends

Although remaining high relative to other countries, the proportion of employees organised in unions has fallen in recent years. The OECD figures show union density falling gradually from 64.1% in 2014 to 62.9% in 2019 and 60.4% in 2024.

The Statistics Denmark figures show that, over the period 2014 to 2024, the total number of union members who were employees or unemployed at the end of the year increased – by 9.1% from 1.80 million to 1.96 million. However, the total number of employees increased by almost double this rate (17.4%) from 2.59 million to 3.04 million. 19 As a result, union density, calculated on this basis fell by five percentage points from 69.4% to 64.4% over 10 years.

Perhaps more dramatic has been a shift in membership both between the main union confederations and into unions outside the main confederations. This partially reflects the changes in the labour market. FH unions have lost 9.1% of their employee and unemployed membership between 2014 and 2024, although the confederation still remains the dominant union grouping with 1.05 million members, 55% of the total. Over the same period, Akademikerne, which organise more highly skilled employees, has seen its membership rise by 60.1% from 208,000 to 342,000.

The managers’ union Lederne has also grown between 2014 and 2024 – by 10.9% to 114,000, but this growth has been outstripped by the other unions outside the main which have grown by almost a third (32.9%) over 10 years and now have 454,000 employee and unemployed members.

Most of these unions are low-cost unions which promote themselves on the fact that membership costs less than that of unions in the confederations. For example, Det Faglige Hus, the largest of these union groupings which has 200,000 members in three unions, describes itself as “Denmark's cheapest trade union with unemployment insurance for everyone, so you can become a member regardless of what job you have”. 20 It has more than doubled in size since 2014, growing from 91,000 to 200,000.

FH unions have criticised this union model, and Flemming H. Grönsund, the vice-chair of the confederation, pointed out in 2024 that the low-cost unions do not have local union representatives and sign almost no agreements, adding that these unions may “sell a cheaper product, but as in all other free markets, you only get what you pay for”. 21

FH unions are concerned about the loss of members and a report presented to the FH congress in 2022 stated that the key challenge facing the confederation was that “fewer and fewer [people] are members of our movement, and the development has only gone in the wrong direction in recent decades”. 22 The report looked specifically at how to recruit unorganised workers including at how to deal with “yellow unions”.

Women

Overall, there are slightly more women in Danish unions than men. Women make up 50.8% of trade unionists who are employees or unemployed (figures for last quarter of 2024). This is higher than the proportion of all employees in Denmark who are women, which was 48.2% in 2024. This means that union density for women at 69.4% is well above that for men at 62.7% (figures based on Statistics Denmark not OECD figures).

There are some differences between the confederations. In the unions comprising FH, 55.1% of the employee and unemployed members are women. In Akademikerne, women account for 51.6% of the membership, and, in the managers union Lederne, the figure is 29.7%. In the other unions outside the two main confederations 44.7% of the employee and unemployed members are women. (All figures are for 31 December 2024.) 23

Bargaining at national level provides a framework for much of the Danish industrial relations system. Pay and conditions are negotiated between unions or “cartels” of unions and the employers at industry level, but complementary negotiations at company level are important in many industries. Overall, 82% of employees are covered by collective bargaining. 24

Collective bargaining coverage and structure

Collective bargaining in Denmark operates within a clearly defined structure. At the highest level there is the Main Agreement (Hovedaftalen 25 ) between the main union confederation FH, previously LO, (see Trade unions) and the Danish employers' association (DA). This document, which was last revised in 1993, covers, among other things, the right to organise, rights on dismissal and industrial disputes, setting the rules for issues which in many other countries would be regulated by the law.

The cooperation agreement (see Workplace representation The basic structure), which sets out the basis for employee representation at the workplace and has been revised several times since it initially came into force in 1947, was also signed at this level.

Agreements covering pay and conditions, which in the 1960s and 1970s were largely also signed at this national level, are now dealt with at the level of individual industries or groups of industries. However, in most cases, at least in the private sector, these industry level agreements leave substantial room for further negotiations at company level, particularly on pay.

In the private sector, in the areas negotiated between FH unions and the DA employers’ association (around half of the labour force), industry-level agreements can be divided into three main types. These are:

• minimum wage agreements – these set minimum rates for the industry concerned, but leave actual wages (above these minimum figures) to be negotiated locally;
• normal wage agreement – these set the wages that will actually be paid; and
• figureless agreements – these leave wages to be entirely negotiated at local level, which will also cover non-wage issues.

FAOS, the Employment Relations Research Centre at the University of Copenhagen, which works closely with the unions, has examined the proportion of employees that fall into these three types and the industries they cover. 26

Minimum wage agreements, which leave pay to local negotiations, have the widest reach covering 56% of employees in the FH -DA bargaining area. Agreements covering manufacturing, construction, retail, wholesale and some services, as well as hotels and catering and finance, all follow this model.

Normal wage agreements, which set pay levels, cover many fewer – just 20% of employees covered by FH-DA agreements. The industries whose agreements follow this pattern are transport, meat processing and food, together with cleaning and material services.

Figureless agreements, where not even minimum rates are set by industry-level agreements cover slightly more – 23%. They cover non-manual staff across all the industries where DA employer and FH unions bargain and will often produce individual pay rates.

In the public sector, the central agreements between the unions and the three employers (central government, regional government and local government) are similar to the normal wage agreements in the private sector. They set pay rates, although since the late 1990s a small part of the pay of public sector employees has also been set aside to be determined through local bargaining, often for a specific purpose such as to help the lowest-paid or to reduce the gender pay gap.

Negotiations with the graduate-level union confederation, Akademikerne (see Trade unions) follow a similar pattern in the public sector, where it negotiates jointly with FH unions. 27 In the private sector, negotiations are local and sometimes individual.

Although there is no legal obligation to negotiate, the coverage of collective bargaining is high. A study, from the Danish employers’ federation DA in January 2025, found that 73% of those employed in the private sector and 100% of those in the public sector were covered by collective bargaining in 2023. This produces an average level of coverage of 82%. 28 The OECD, using the DA figures, estimates that coverage, for those for whom collective bargaining was possible, was 81.6% in 2023. 29

Variations in collective bargaining coverage

Although in most industries and sectors collective bargaining coverage is reasonably high, there are some differences, as the figures produced in 2025 by the employers’ association DA show (see table).

The figures, broken down by sector and employers’ association, indicate that while collective bargaining coverage is highest in the public sector, where it is 100%, it is lower in parts of the private sector, particularly those outside the main employers’ associations or where employers do not belong to an employers’ association.

Source: I Danmark er de fleste dækket af overenskomst, DA, 2025 https://www.da.dk/politik-og-analyser/overenskomst-og-arbejdsret/2025/i-danmark-er-de-fleste-daekket-af-overenskomst/

FH, the main union confederation, has also calculated bargaining coverage by industry, based on union membership, taking account of the membership of low-cost unions, which are generally not involved in collective bargaining. It estimates that hotel and catering is an industry where fewer than a third of all employees work in companies with high collective bargaining coverage, and that cleaning and agriculture are industries with only medium-level coverage, with between one third and two-thirds of employees in high coverage companies. 30

One other point on the coverage of collective agreements is the limit included in the collective agreements between the private sector non-manual union HK and the employers’ association Dansk Erherv (Danish Business) which cover non-manual workers in retail, administration and some services. This states that the agreement only applies in companies, or parts of companies where HK has at least 50% of employees in membership. 31 Many employees are therefore excluded.

Extending agreements

There are no legal provisions that allow collective agreements to be extended to those who do not sign them. However, employer may decide to accede to an existing collective agreement, in other words to accept its terms, sometimes because of union pressure. 32

Allowing local variations

There is no mechanism allowing individual local employers to opt-out of industry agreements. On the other hand, the fact that, under most industry agreements, key terms and conditions are negotiated locally means that this additional flexibility may not be needed

Who negotiates?

At national level, the main parties for the framework agreements, which lay down the rights and obligations of the two sides, are the FH and the Danish employers' confederation DA. There is no similar agreement between DA and the Akademikerne confederation.

Collective agreements at industry level, dealing with pay and conditions, are reached between employers' associations and unions or "cartels" of unions grouped together to cover different industrial sectors. The most important, as it negotiates first (see Length and timing of agreements) and sets the pattern for other industries and sectors, is CO-industri, which negotiates on behalf of 230,000 manual, technical and administrative employees in much of manufacturing. Other private sector union cartels include the BAT-KARTELLET for construction, allied trades and timber, GIMK for the graphical and media industry and HANDELSKARTELLET for the retail and wholesale industry. There are also cartels of unions, which negotiate in the public sector.

At company/employer level, the negotiations are between the trade union representatives and management. A major study in 2024 by FAOS, the Employment Relations Research Centre at the University of Copenhagen, found that, in 85% of workplaces with union representatives, they are involved in local negotiations with management on pay or some other issues. 33

Industrial action

Strikes in Denmark are considered to be a collective rather than an individual right and can only be legally called in furtherance of a collective dispute, where there is a “conflict of interest” – for example, one side (the unions) want higher pay, the other side (the employers) do not. They cannot be called over “conflicts of rights”, where the two sides have a different interpretation of what has been agreed. These should be resolved through mediation and arbitration.

The rules covering industrial action are set out in the Main Agreement (Hovedaftalen 34 ), the key document agreed between the main union confederation (FH -previously LO) and the main employers’ association (DA), and they are enforced through rulings of the Labour Court (the body which oversees compliance with the Main Agreement. The procedure has been further developed through Rules for handling industrial disputes, known as the “norm”, agreed between FH and DA, and most recently revised in 2006. 35

Under Section 2 of the Main Agreement, strikes may not be called when workers are covered by a collective agreement currently in force. They are therefore only legal when, either the previous agreement has been terminated (collective agreements are usually terminated by the parties before they expire to allow negotiations to begin) or when there is no collective agreement covering a particular group of workers, for example at a specific company.

Striking to pressure a company without a collective agreement to accept one, has been a part of the strategy of Danish unions to extend bargaining coverage. 36 This has been made more effective because the Main Agreement permits sympathy strikes in support of other workers “in accordance with agreements and legal practice”.

Under the Main Agreement a strike (or a lock-out, in the case of the employers) must be approved by the decision-making body of the union/employers’ association involved before it can go ahead (there is no requirement for a ballot of members), and the other side must be informed of the fact that this decision is being considered at least 14 days in advance of any action. The other side must also be informed of any decision to strike or to lock out employees out at least seven days before the action is to begin. These notices must also be sent to the Conciliation Institution, a public body set up to resolve industrial disputes. 37

Where industrial action seems likely the Conciliation Institution can, either at the request of one of the parties or on its own initiative, call in the two sides for further negotiations, and both sides must comply with this request. The conciliator can force the two parties to resume negotiations on certain points, require factual declarations from the parties, and produce its own mediation proposal as a settlement to the dispute, which, in certain circumstances, must be presented to the membership for a vote. 38

In addition, the conciliator has the option of postponing the conflict for two weeks to provide a further opportunity to reach a settlement – an option that is frequently used. At the end of the two weeks, or earlier, if the conciliator decides the process has finished, action can begin, although it cannot do so until the fifth day after the end of the two-week period or after the conciliator’s decision that negotiations have ended.

The conciliator can also extend the postponement for a further two weeks (producing a total four weeks’ postponement) if the Conciliation Institution as a whole – the conciliator concerned must consult with the other conciliators – considers that:

• the work stoppage will affect vital social institutions or social functions; or
• the work stoppage will have far-reaching social significance.

The Conciliation Institution can also do this if it considers that allowing the dispute to go ahead at that moment would make it more difficult to find a solution to the dispute.

As with the first postponement, the action cannot begin until the fifth day after the end of the second two weeks, or the after the conciliator has concluded that the negotiations are at an end.

The option of a second two-week postponement of industrial action is often used in the major round of negotiations between the unions and employers, which typically takes place in March every two or three years and involves large numbers of agreements being negotiated in parallel.

As well as these attempts to prevent a strike from beginning, the government has sometimes intervened to halt an industrial dispute which has been going on for some time and where there appears no prospect of a solution. This is done through emergency legislation, which must be backed by a majority of the members of the Danish parliament.

This is rare in the private sector, where the last intervention was in 1998, following an 11-day strike by 450,000 workers that paralysed the country. 39 However, it is slightly more common in the public sector, where both a 10-week nurses’ strike in 2021 and four-week a lock-out of teachers in 2013 were halted by through government intervention. 40

If a strike takes place when a collective agreement is in force, a so-called known as non-contractual or unofficial strike, the Labour Court can impose financial penalties both on the union involved and to the workers. (There are comparable penalties if the employer locks out the workers in similar circumstances.)

These financial penalties will not be imposed if the strike ends rapidly and there is a statutory obligation under §9(2) of the Labour Court and Industrial Arbitration Tribunals Act for the unions and employers to meet the day after a strike or lockout has started unless the action has already ended by this point. 41 However, if the strike continues penalties will be imposed and they increase if the dispute continues.

The Labour Court also takes account of the proportionality principle in its decisions on strikes and lockouts, which means that the actions taken by the parties in a dispute must not have a disproportionate impact on the public.

The main union confederation, FH accepts that there are limits to industrial action in some areas. It states on its website that, “in the public labour market, however, there will never be talk of a total conflict. Hospitals, nursing homes, ambulance services and other vital areas will continue to operate with emergency preparedness.” 42

This concern for the impact on social services does not mean that there are no strikes in these areas. For example, in 2021, members of the Danish nurses’ union DSR took strike action after they voted down a proposed collective agreement and then rejected the proposal from the Conciliation Institution in a ballot. The strike began on 19 June 2021 and continued until 27 August when the parliament passed legislation which imposed the Conciliation Institution’s proposal. Despite the obligation to return to work, which was followed, there were several days of hour-long stoppages in Danish hospitals as a protest against the imposition of the settlement. 43 This led to fines being imposed on nurses, for continuing to take part in non-contractual stoppages after the dispute had ended with an imposed settlement. 44

The extent of strike activity is quite varied in Denmark, particularly in relation to the number of days lost (see table). The figures also show that many stoppages are brief. These may also be non-contractual and linked to other issues than collective bargaining.

Industrial action in Denmark

Source: Statistics Denmark Statbank ABST1: Work stoppages by industry and unit

Length and timing of agreements

There is a clear calendar for negotiations on collective agreements, with the negotiations for the bulk of the manufacturing sector between the union cartel CO-industri and the employers’ association DI starting the process and setting the pattern for later settlements. The justification for this timetable is that manufacturing operates in international markets and pay should be set at a level which allows it to maintain its competitiveness. The unions also point out that later settlements generally match those achieved by CO-industri pulling up wage levels in industries with lower levels of organisation.

Agreements normally last for several years, normally either two or three, although there will typically be increases, and potentially local bargaining, each year.

The most recent agreements in the private sector, reached in early 2025, run for three years from 1 March 2025 to 1 March 2028. 45

In the public sector, the most recent agreements were signed in 2024 and run for two years until 31 March 2026. 46

Subjects covered in agreements

Negotiations at national level in Denmark cover a range of issues that elsewhere are often dealt with by legislation.

At industry level, although some industries set minimum rates and there are others, notably in the public sector, where the majority of the pay increase is determined in the central agreements, bargaining has concentrated on issues such as pensions, increased flexibility in working time – by providing frameworks for local agreements – and collective funds for maternity leave and training. For example, the CO-industri agreement in 2025 included increased employers’ pension contributions, new time-off rights linked to family responsibilities and extra pay during parental leave. 47

This means that, in much of the private sector, actual pay levels depend on negotiations at company level conducted by local union representatives (see workplace representation The basic structure). In the public sector, local representatives negotiate on the distribution of wage pools which are allocated to local level as part of the central settlements.

Trends in collective bargaining

In terms of the overall figures, Denmark has been able to maintain a high level of collective bargaining coverage. Figures from the OECD show that coverage, which was 85.1% in 2004, has fallen only slightly to 81.6% in 2024. 48

However, there are concerns that employers’ willingness to accept coverage “may be under increasing pressure because of the decline in trade union density, especially in certain private sector industries”. 49 This has been recognised by FH, the main union confederation, whose former chair wrote in 2022: “We now see large industries where the minority is organised by a union. Where large groups of employees are not covered by a collective agreement.” 50

This pressure is likely to be intensified because of a decline in union structures at the workplace (see The extent of workplace representation), where key negotiations on pay take place.

A further concern raised by the Danish collective bargaining system is that the priority given to maintaining competitiveness, with the manufacturing agreement setting the pattern for latter settlements, makes it difficult to correct the gender pay gap. This was underlined by a detailed report on pay structures following the nurses strike in 2021 (see Industrial action). The report found a clear tendency for staff groups with a large proportion of women to have, on average, lower pay than other groups with the same level of management, experience and education. 51 Following the report, the government allocated additional funds to the private sector to address the issue.

It should also be stressed that Denmark is not alone in finding it difficult to close the gender pay gap.

Minimum wage

There is no system for setting a single national minimum wage and the unions, employers and government in Denmark are strongly opposed to the EU directive on an adequate minimum wage ((EU) 2022/2041). 52

Joint employer/union body at national level

Although the main employers’ association (DA) and the main union confederation (FH) have close relations and have reached agreements on many aspects of industrial relations and the labour market, there is no formal body in Denmark like the social and economic committees which exist in many other EU states.

Unions are central to workplace representation in Denmark. Local union representatives take up employees’ concerns with management, often negotiate pay and other conditions, and are members of the main information and consultation body – the cooperation committee.

The basic structure

The trade unions, with their high membership levels, provide the main basis of workplace representation in Denmark. The trade union representative (tillidsrepræsentant - TR) takes up workers' day-to-day concerns with the employer and usually has a mandate to bargain locally on pay, working time arrangements and other issues. Trade union representatives also have priority in representing employees on the Danish equivalent of the works council, the cooperation committee. (They are also sometimes elected as safety representatives and as members of the separate health and safety committees (see Employee health and safety bodies), although this is not the normal situation.)

This representation has a legal basis in the binding collective agreements reached between the employers' associations and the unions. Trade union representatives' rights are set out in broad terms in a national agreement (the Main Agreement – Hovedaftalen), 53 with the detailed position for each industry set out in the industry-level agreements for that industry.

There are also cooperation committees, the equivalent of works councils, in Danish workplaces. Their rights and duties are set out in a national agreement covering most of the private sector, between the main union confederation, FH (previous LO) and the main employers’ association, DA. This agreement was initially signed in 1986 and most recently revised in 2006. 54 There are separate agreements for agriculture and finance, and in the public sector there are separate agreements for central government, and for local government and regional government, where the broadly equivalent bodies are known as MED-committees.

The extent of workplace representation

Figures from the 2019 European Company Survey show that, on average, 48% of all Danish workplaces with more than 10 employees had some form of employee representation, which may be either a union or a cooperation committee, well above the EU27 average of 29%. For workplaces with 50 or more employees, the figures were much higher, 70% for workplaces with between 50 and 249 employees, and 80% for those with more than 250. 55

These are broadly in line with the results of the most recent study carried out in 2024 by FAOS, the employment relations research centre at the University of Copenhagen. The section of the survey completed by managers indicated that 53% of all workplaces with five or more employees (a lower threshold than the Eurofound survey) had a union representative. 56 This almost unchanged on the figure from the comparable FAOS survey in 2010, when 52% of workplaces with five or more employees reported the existence of a union representative. 57 A separate academic study looking at companies with 35 or more employees – a higher threshold – found that 65% had a trade union representatives in 2024. 58

However, while, as FAOS points out, “there has been no decline in the number of shop stewards or the coverage of trade unions in Danish workplaces”, 59 union membership has fallen, and there has been a drop in the proportion of workplaces with a union club – a semi-formal institution which brings together all the union members at the workplace. In 2010, more than half (52%) of workplaces examined had a trade union club, either for a single union or several, but by 2024 this had fallen to 37%. 60 With clubs playing an important role in linking representatives to their colleagues, this decline is of concern.

There are no official figures on the number of cooperation committees or their public sector equivalents, but they are found widely. The academic study referred to above found that 49% of companies with 35 or more employees, the standard threshold for setting one up (see Numbers and composition), had a cooperation committee in 2024, with higher percentages in larger workplaces. 61 And the 2024 FAOS study found that 45% of union representatives reported that they had a cooperation committee and 43% reported that they had a MED-committee at their workplace. 62

The role of unions

Unions play the central role in workplace representation in Denmark. There are no competing statutory structures, and the cooperation committees, which are somewhat similar to works councils in other countries, and should exist in workplaces with 35 or more employees in the private sector (25 in the public sector), have been set up as a result of agreements between the unions and the employers (see The basic structure). Union representatives also have priority as members of these committees (see Election and term of office).

Numbers and composition

The number of trade union representatives elected at each workplace will depend on the number of employees, as well as the precise details of the collective agreement covering the industry concerned. Typically, there will be one trade union representative for every 50 or so employees, and in most agreements the right to elect a trade union representative starts once there are more than five employees in the workplace. Because of the structure of Danish unions there will often be several unions in a single workplace, and accordingly there will also be several representatives. In larger workplaces, the representatives will often elect a joint trade union representative.

Cooperation committees, to which trade union representatives belong, are joint bodies consisting of equal numbers of employee and management representatives. In the private sector, they should be set up in all companies with 35 or more employees where this is requested by the employer or a majority of employees. Precisely how this number is calculated is not set out in the FH-DA cooperation agreement. It states only that cooperation committees should be set up “in enterprises employing 35 persons or more within the same geographical area”. 63

In the public sector, the threshold for setting up a cooperation committee or the equivalent MED-committee in regional and local government is 25 employees.

The membership of the cooperation committee, as set out in the FH-DA agreement, is as follows:

Above 1,000 the numbers may be increased by agreement.

The employee representatives consist of trade union representatives from the workplace, combined in some cases with other elected employees. In February 2004, the LO (now FH) and the main employers’ association DA agreed to revise the agreement on cooperation committees to take account of the EU directive on information and consultation (2002/14/EC). The change allows employee groups outside the LO to be represented in the cooperation committee.

The management representatives, who also include supervisory staff, are partly appointed by management and partly selected by the supervisory staff (where one of the supervisory unions have members in a workplace, at least one is included among the management representatives – see Election and term of office).

The operation of the representative bodies

The unions decide how their representatives should operate at the workplace. However, the agreement between the union bargaining group CO-industri and the employers Dansk Industri states that, if employees unite to form a local union club, the elected union representative should be the chair. It also states that where several union representatives have been elected, they may elect a senior representative from among themselves to represent all employees in relation to management. 64

The cooperation committee is chaired by the senior representative of management with the deputy chair coming from the employee representatives. (Where the unions have elected a joint representative, he or she is automatically the deputy chair.) The secretary is jointly elected by the two groups.

The cooperation committee should meet at least six times a year, and extraordinary meetings can be held whenever either side has a specific issue which it wants to be dealt with before the next regular meeting. The cooperation committee can also set up subcommittees, which may be either temporary or permanent.

Election and term of office

Trade union representatives are typically elected by all employees, both union and non-union members, in the workplace, or part of the workplace, they represent. This is the case in the CO-industri agreement, for example. 65

The precise details of the election procedures and the length of time that union representatives serve are fixed by the rules of the union and the collective agreement in the industry concerned.

Under the terms of the CO-industri agreement, elections are by written ballot, take place during works time, and the election is not valid unless one third of employees have voted for the candidate elected. All employees can vote, but agency workers may not. Candidates must be over 18 and must, normally have worked for the company for at least nine months in the previous two years.

Members of the cooperation committee are not directly elected. Under the cooperation agreement, trade union representatives have priority membership of the cooperation committee. 66 If there are more trade union representatives than seats on the committee, the union representatives choose from among themselves who should take the seats.

If there are some groups of employees who are not represented by the unions, or, in the case of the FH-DA agreement, they are represented by unions that do not belong to FH, the existing union representatives can be supplemented by representatives of these groups. In choosing members, the agreement states that an attempt should be made to ensure that all employees are represented in terms of “staff groups, sections and professional qualifications”.

The term of office is two years.

As well as union members on the employees’ side there must also be at least one member of the managers’ union Lederne on the management side, if Lederne has members in the company. This is set out in a separate agreement between DA and Lederne, signed in 1998. 67 The choice of individual is agreed with the Lederne members in the company or with their representative, if there is one.

Tasks and rights

The CO-industri agreement states “Both the shop steward [union representative] and the management are under an obligation to promote quiet and good cooperation in their relations with their organisations and in the relations between the local parties at the company, and not put obstacles in the way of the organisation of the company and employees”. 68 There is similar wording in other industry agreements.

In practice, the role of trade union representatives includes: ensuring that the existing collective agreements are properly applied; taking up individual issues with the employer; acting as a focal point for union activity, such as campaigns and recruitment; and being involved in workplace level negotiations (see Who negotiates?) .

Union representatives are often elected by all employees, and this is reflected in their duties, as set out in the CO-industi agreement. This states that they should represent all the employees from whom they were elected and that they may make agreements that are binding on all employees. However, it also states that in terms of making proposals, recommendations and complaints, union representatives should limit themselves to those coming from members of the CO-industri unions.

This has become an important issue because of the growth in the number of employees who are either not in unions or members of low-cost or “yellow unions”, which offer cheaper membership but have no workplace representative structure (see Individual unions). The 2024 FAOS study shows, 82% of workplace representatives now report that at least some of their colleagues are unorganised or members of yellow unions – in 2010 the figure was 61%. 69

In practice, the same study shows that 59% of union representatives deliberately do not choose to represent the interests of unorganised employees or members of “yellow” unions, as they are not members of the representative’s union, a figure almost unchanged compared with 2010, when it was 55%. On the other hand, 41% did represent the interests of employees who were not in their union.

Looking at the cooperation committee, its main task, as defined in the cooperation agreement, is "to promote cooperation throughout the enterprise, for the benefit of the enterprise as such and the individual employee". 70

In practice the cooperation committee has information and consultation rights. It is also the forum through which the two sides attempt to reach agreement on a range of issues. But it does not have the effective veto powers which works councils in some other countries possess.

The cooperation committee should be informed by management on the financial position of the business and its future prospects, including likely future sales and production issues. It should get information on the employment outlook and any major changes or reorganisation planned, such as the introduction of new technology. The cooperation committee is also required to assess the impact of new technology when its introduction is planned on a large scale. It should also, as a result of a 1991 supplement to the FH-DA agreement, be informed about developments in the area of equal treatment between men and women.

To ensure that employee views can be taken into consideration by management, information should be provided "sufficiently early to allow employees to put forward viewpoints, ideas and proposals ... before any decision is made".

Unusually, the employee representatives are also expected to provide information: they should keep the cooperation committee informed about working conditions.

The cooperation committee is also the body through which employer and employee representatives attempt to reach agreement on a series of policy principles. These include: the human relations and personnel policy of the company, including its policy on equal treatment between men and women; training and retraining linked to new technology; the use of personal data; and production methods and major changes to the business. However, the cooperation committee is deliberately excluded from any role in negotiating collective agreements on pay or other issues dealt with between the employers and union representatives.

Where agreement is not possible either side can consult the Cooperation Board - a national joint union/employer body charged with promoting cooperation - in an attempt to reach a settlement. However, the final decision rests with management.

The cooperation committee should not operate in isolation from the rest of the workforce. One of its key roles is to pass information on to employees.

Protection against dismissal

Protection for union workplace representatives is set out in the Main Agreement (Hovedaftalen 71 ) and in agreements for specific industries, which may differ in detail. In general terms, the employer must provide compelling reasons for the dismissal and there will be a specific procedure, involving the union, which must be followed. These arrangements mean that the union representative may be protected against dismissal in circumstances where the employer would be entitled to dismiss other employees. Union representatives may also receive longer notice than other employees. They may also benefit from a six-week extended notice period in the first year after they have left office.

The Main Agreement (§8) states that the union must be able to examine the reasons presented by the employer and, if the dismissal is for reasons other than a lack of work, the dismissal cannot go ahead until the union has agreed that the dismissal is justified. If the dismissal is because of a lack of work, the issue must again be examined by the union and the individual’s employment may not be terminated during the notice period. In both cases the union examination must begin within one week.

The arrangements for cooperation committees are set out in the Cooperation Agreement. 72 It states that any employee member of the cooperation committee who does not already enjoy protection as a union representative must be given six weeks’ notice of dismissal over and above the period provided in the relevant collective agreement for that group of workers. There are no other protections and the agreement states that this period of notice may not be longer than the notice applicable to a union representative in similar circumstances.

The fact that employee representatives on cooperation committees who are not at the same time trade union representatives are not protected against dismissal may have less significance than initially appears. This is because trade union representatives have priority when the employee members of the cooperation committee are chosen and will normally account for most of the cooperation committee members, if not all of them.

Time off and other resources

Trade union representatives typically will have paid time off for their duties, with the right to do this set out in the appropriate industry agreement. The CO-industri agreement states that “where the shop steward [union representative] has to leave his/her work in order to carry out his/her union duties, this shall be subject to prior notice to the management.”

This agreement may also specify that they must be given the facilities necessary for them to do their work. The CO-industri agreement states that the union representative “shall have the necessary access to IT facilities, including the Internet, in order to carry out his/her union duties”.

Under the cooperation agreement, employee members of the cooperation committee are entitled to paid time off to attend cooperation committee meetings. In addition, the deputy chair, the senior employee representative, is entitled to time off to carry out the tasks linked with the cooperation committee. Office facilities may also be provided to the deputy chair, where these are necessary.

The cooperation committee can call in outside experts, although these will normally be agreed by both sides. Where two sides cannot agree on the involvement of external experts, they can ask for the intervention of the national joint union/employer body, the Cooperation Board, to help them reach agreement.

Training rights

Trade union representatives are normally be entitled to paid leave to take part in union-organised courses. The details depend on the specific collective agreement for the industry.

The CO-industri agreement, includes a provision that employees, newly elected as union representatives, should undertake relevant union training lasting up to six weeks. Individual unions – there are nine unions in CO-industri – normally provide their own training.

In addition, the agreement states that, within 18 months of being elected, union representatives will be offered a training course, consisting of two separate two-day sessions. This provided by TekSam, a body run jointly by CO-industri and the employers’ association, DI, and, and it is particularly intended to support employers and unions working together in cooperation committees. 73

In the finance sector, agreements provide for new union representatives to take part in basic training provided by the union (Finansforbundet) within two years of being elected. consists of two parts, lasting a total of 17 days. 74 in addition, union representatives have a right to take part in additional days of supplementary training each year. During their attendance at these courses, union representatives continue to receive their normal pay.

Representation at group level

In larger groups the trade union representatives from different workplaces will frequently come together in a joint committee or meet more informally.

For cooperation committees the structure recommended in the cooperation agreement, is that a group committee should be set up, composed of representatives from the subsidiaries' cooperation committees.

Employee representation at board level starts in companies with 35 employees and these representatives have one third of the seats.

The extent of board-level employee representation

Under Chapter 8 (Section 140) of the Danish Companies Act, employees in Danish companies, both public limited companies (A/S) and limited companies (ApS) employing 35 employees or more, are entitled to elect a number of representatives to the board of directors. 75 However, a majority of employees must vote in favour of having employee representatives before this right can be exercised.

The number elected by employees should correspond to half the number elected by those who own the company at the general meeting and should be at least two (or at least three on the board of the parent company of a group). In effect, this is equivalent to one third of the members of the board of directors. However, on small boards, or if the owners choose an uneven number of board members, the proportion of board members representing the employees may be slightly higher than a third. For example, on an eight-person board of a parent company, with five shareholder representatives, there will be three board members representing the employees.

Employees should also elect the same number of alternate members to stand in for the full members if necessary.

There is a two-tier system for public limited companies and a choice between a one-tier or two-tier system for private limited companies. In smaller companies the board of directors is directly responsible for the management of the business. But in larger companies, this is carried out by executives, with the board taking a supervisory role.

Figures from a handbook produced by the unions show that a majority of employees (55%) in companies with a board have an employee representative on that board (figures from 2011). However, employee board members were much more likely to be found in larger companies. There were employee representatives on the boards of 13% of companies with fewer than 100 employees, 32% of companies with between 100 and 200 employees, 54% of companies with between 200 and 500 employees, and 65% of companies with more than 500 employees. 76

A separate and later study found that 20% of companies subject to the legislation – that is those with 35 or more employees – had board-level employee representatives in 2021. This study also found that this was more likely to be the case in larger companies, and in industries like manufacturing, construction and finance. 77

Relations between employee and owner representatives are usually characterised by consensus and mutual trust, based on a shared interest in the survival and development of the company. However, a study found that employee representatives – when comparing their attitudes with those of the representatives of the owners – were more likely to take broader stakeholder interests into account, and not just employee interests, but also environment and local community interests. 78

Nomination and election of employee representatives

The details of the voting procedure and other issues are regulated in separate implementation provisions, and the latest version came into force in April 2012. 79 These define employees as someone over the age of 15 performing work as an employee either in Denmark or working in an EU/EEA country. The request to have an initial vote on whether there is to be employee representation can be made by:

• a majority of the employee-side members of the cooperation committee;
• a union in the company – provided it represents at least 10% of the employees; or
• 10% of the employees.

The voting can be in writing or by email, but it must be secret, and all employees can vote. The elections are run by an electoral committee made up of representatives of management and the employees, who are chosen by the employee members of the cooperation committee.

Candidates to be employee representatives at board level must have 12 months’ service.

Unusually the Danish Companies Act (§141) extends the votes to employees in one or more foreign subsidiaries, where employee representatives are to be elected to the board of a parent company. However, the decision to do so is in the hands of the general meeting, that is the shareholders. There is no absolute right for foreign employees to participate. Danish employees are also guaranteed a minimum level of representation. If there are any Danish employees, they get at least one representative on the board, if they make up at least 10% of the total, they get two seats.

In line with the Gender Balance Act (Kønsbalanceloven), 80 passed in December 2024, some larger companies are required to have a gender balance among their board members, both for those chosen by employees and those chosen by the general meeting (the shareholders. The rules apply to quoted Danish companies other than those with fewer than 250 employees, an annual turnover under €50 million and a balance sheet value below €43 million.

Under the act, gender balance means that at least 40% of the board members chosen by employees must come from the underrepresented sex (likely to be women). However, where only a few board members are being chosen, the percentage may be below. The exact number required are set out in an annex to the act.

The electoral committee, which runs the elections for employee representatives must take appropriate measures to ensure that the procedures for ensuring gender balance are in place.

The rights of employee representatives

The employee representatives, who are elected by the whole workforce, have the same rights and responsibilities as other board members, although they cannot be involved in decisions on industrial disputes, as this would be seen as involving a conflict of interest. Their term of office is also the same as that for other board members, and it expires with the closing of the annual general meeting held no later than four years after their election. Employee board members have the same protection against dismissal as union representatives.

The cooperation committee chooses most Danish employee representatives for European level bodies. The one exception relates to Danish board level representatives in a European Company – they must be elected by the workforce.

European Works Councils

Danish members of the special negotiating body (SNB) for the EWC are appointed by the cooperation committee, or if that does not exist, by the trade union representatives or by a ballot of all employees. Only employees may be members. 81

The situation is the same for members of the fallback EWC, as set up under the annex to the directive.

European Company

Danish members of the special negotiating body (SNB) for the European Company are appointed by the cooperation committee, or if that does not exist, by the trade union representatives or by a ballot of all employees. Only employees may be members. 82

The situation is the same for members of the SE representative body (works council), as set up under the annex to the directive.

However, Danish employee representatives at board level in a European Company based in Denmark are elected by all employees, in accordance with the rules on board-level representation in Danish company legislation (see Nomination and election of employee representatives). The election is organised by an electoral committee consisting of both employee and management representatives.

All health and safety representation in Denmark is through joint employer/employee bodies. In larger companies, there is a two-tier structure, with the higher body dealing with strategic issues and the lower body with issues on a day-to-day basis. However, in companies with fewer than 35 employees, a single body deals with both. The lower-level body can interrupt work if it considers that there is an imminent and substantial threat to health and safety.

Employee health and safety bodies

In smaller companies, health and safety is dealt with through a single-tier body, a work environment organisation (arbejdsmiljøorganisation – AMO), and in larger companies, there is a two-tier structure, with lower-level safety working groups and higher-level health and safety committees. These are all joint bodies. There are specific rules on their composition and operation. However, unions and employers can agree different arrangements, if they wish (see Numbers and structure). In contrast to employee workplace representation more generally, where the rules are set by collective agreements, (see Workplace representation The basic structure), in health and safety the rules are determined by legislation.

Numbers and structure

In the smallest companies, those with nine employees or fewer (other than in temporary or mobile workplaces like building sites), health and safety issues should be dealt with by regular direct contact between the employer and employees.

In companies with 10 to 34 employees a health and safety group (work environment organisation) should be set up. This consists of at least one more elected employee health and safety representative (arbejdsmiljørepræsentan – AMR) and one or more supervisors, plus the employer, or a representative of the employer, who chairs it. It deals with both day-to-day tasks relating to health and safety and broader strategic issues. Where workers are employed at a temporary or mobile workplace, largely in the building industry, the threshold for setting up a health and safety body and having a health and safety representative falls to five employees.

In companies with 35 or more employees, there is a two-tier structure.

At the lower level there are two-person health and safety groups (arbejdsmiljøgruppen) dealing with day-to-day health and safety issues. These are made up of an elected employee representative and a designated supervisor, who should be aware of the company’s production processes. The employer, in consultation with supervisors and employees, decides how many health and safety groups should be set up. However, there should be sufficient to ensure that employees have access to the group during their working hours, taking account of issues such as employees’ geographical location and working patterns, like shift working – the so-called “proximity principle”.

At the higher level, a separate health and safety committee (arbejdsmiljøudvalg) deals with strategic health and safety issues. This is made up of some or all of the members of the lower-level health and safety groups plus a chair, who is the employer, or a representative of the employer. If there are only one or two lower-level groups, the health and safety committee includes them all – a total of three people, if there is only one lower-level group, or five if there are two lower-level groups. In organisations with more than two lower-level safety groups, an employee representative plus a deputy are elected from among the employee members of the lower-level groups. This means that the health and safety committee in these organisations also has five members: two supervisors and two employee representatives plus the employer.

It is possible for employers and unions to agree health and safety arrangements which diverge from this structure. However, this requires a two-stage negotiation and two levels of agreement. First, there must be a framework agreement between the union or unions and the employers’ association or a single employer, which sets out the broad lines of the health and safety structure to be adopted. Once this has been signed it is possible to reach a company agreement, which sets out the detailed health and safety rules for the business, including how all the required health and safety tasks are to be carried out, how the agreement is to be implemented and monitored, and how the agreement may be amended or terminated.

Alongside these formal structures, some workplaces, particularly in the public sector, have set up a so-called TRIO. This consists of the union representative, the health and safety representative and the manager, and it has a more informal and preparatory role in health and safety and employee involvement issues.

Research by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work in 2019 found that 72% of workplaces in Denmark had health and safety representatives and 58% had a health and safety committee. Both figures are well above EU27 averages, which were 56% for health and safety representatives and 22% for health and safety committees. (The figures are for workplaces with five or more employees. 83

A major survey of employee representatives carried in 2024 by FAOS, the employment relations research centre at the University of Copenhagen, found that three-quarters (74%) of managers in workplaces with at least 10 employees reported there was a health and safety representative. 84

Tasks and rights

Health and safety tasks are divided into two groups, strategic or general tasks, undertaken by the health and safety committee, where one exists, and by the single-tier health and safety body in smaller companies, and day-to-day or operational tasks, undertaken by the health and safety group in larger companies and the single-tier body in smaller ones.

The main strategic tasks are:

• to develop a health and safety risk assessment
• to plan, direct and coordinate cooperation on health and safety; to undertake an annual discussion on health and safety (see below);
• to check on work health and safety and ensure that the lower-level safety groups, where these exist, are properly informed;
• to monitor compliance with the regulations governing employment and the extent of sick leave;
• to participate on decisions on how many lower-level safety groups should be established;
• to advise the employer on the solution of health and safety problems and how these can be integrated into company’s strategic direction and day-to-day activities;
• to ensure that the causes of accidents or work-related illness are investigated, to prevent recurrence, and to prepare an annual summary of such incidents;
• to keep up-to-date on new health and safety legislation;
• to establish rues for appropriate health and safety training and ensure that these are observed;
• to advise on whether the necessary health and safety expertise is present in the company;
• to arrange for the preparation of a work organisation structure; and
• to contribute to the coordination of health and safety activities with other companies, when they are present at the same location.

An important element in these strategic tasks is the annual discussion on health and safety. This should even take place in companies without a health and safety structure, in other words those with fewer than 10 employees or five in mobile workplaces like construction, although the requirements for these small organisations are slightly different. The annual discussion should look at how health and safety cooperation is to be organised in the coming year, establish how this should happen, including meeting intervals, review whether the previous year’s goals were achieved and set targets for the future. In companies without a health and safety organisation it should also examine whether the necessary health and safety expertise is present in the company. In all cases the employer must confirm in writing to the health and safety authority (Working Environment Authority) that this annual discussion has been held.

The day-to-day operational tasks related to health and safety are:

• to undertake and participate in activities to protect employees and prevent risks;
• to participate in the planning of health and safety work and the development of workplace assessment, including sick leave, taking account the principle of prevention and the need to comply with employment regulations;
• to ensure that working conditions are safe;
• to ensure that there is effective training appropriate to the needs of all employees, participate in the investigation of accidents and work-related illness, as well as the risk of such accidents and illness, and to notify them to the employer;
• to encourage behaviour among employees that promotes health and safety, both for themselves and others;
• to act as liaison between employees and the higher-level health and safety committee, where this exists; and
• to pass on to the health and safety committee problems that the health and safety group cannot solve, or that have company-wide application.

Where health and safety groups consider that there is an imminent substantial threat to workers’ health and safety that it cannot avert, and there is no time to inform the chair of the health and safety committee or the management, it can require work to be stopped to the extent that is required to avoid the danger. It must, however, promptly inform management of its actions and explain why the work stoppage was necessary. In addition, if only one member of the health and safety group is present, either the employee representative or the supervisor, he or she can act alone, communicating the decision later.

The health and safety committee, the single-tier health and safety body and the appropriate health and safety group must all be given details of reports of accidents at work submitted to the labour inspectorate. They must be told about decisions taken by the labour inspectorate and the Working Environment Authority, and they must also be consulted before the employer asks for expert assistance on health and safety.

Where the health and safety committee has made a proposal to the employer which has not been take accepted, the employer must set out the reasons for not following the proposal within three weeks.

Frequency of meetings

The number of times the various health and safety bodies should meet is not regulated in the legislation. However, it should be considered in the annual health and safety discussion.

Election and term of office

Employee health and safety representatives are elected by all employees with the exception of supervisors or those with managerial responsibilities, with the election taking place at the level of the whole company, or the part covered by a particular health and safety group as appropriate. The term of office is two years, although this can be extended through agreement with the employer, although not for more than four years.

Resources, time off and training

The employer must ensure that there are sufficient funds to allow cooperation on health and safety to operate effectively. This includes providing employee safety representatives with sufficient paid time off for them to carry out their functions.

Employee safety representatives must complete three days of training within the first three months of their election. The employer should offer an additional two days of training in the first year, and one and a half days of training thereafter. The cost of training and all associated expenses, including loss of earnings, should be borne by the employer.

Protection against dismissal

Employee health and safety representatives are protected against dismissal or other detrimental treatment in the same way as union representatives, in other words, they may not be dismissed until after the union has been informed and after any arbitration proceedings over the dismissal have ended. They should also not suffer any disadvantage because of their activities as safety representatives.

Other elements of workplace health and safety

The legislation provides that if the employer does not have the necessary expertise to comply with the organisation’s health and safety obligations, he or she must obtain external expert assistance in order to ensure a healthy and safe working environment.

National context

The ministry responsible for health and safety at work is the Ministry of Employment (Beskæftigelsesministeriet). The body responsible for monitoring compliance with health and safety laws and regulations, and which has an overall responsibility for health and safety is the Working Environment Authority (Arbejdstilsynet). There are also specialist enforcement bodies for shipping, aviation and offshore installations.

Trade unions and employers are able to influence health and safety policy through their participation in the Working Environment Council (Arbejdsmiljørådet). This is a body made up of representatives of both unions and the employers, whose duty, to make proposals to improve occupational health and safety in Denmark, is set out in legislation. 85

In 2013, the main health and safety legislation, the Working Environment Act, was amended to state that it “shall cover the physical and psychological working environment” and in 2015 it was extended to cover “work-related violence, threats or other offensive behaviour”, even if they occur outside the workplace.

Key legislation

Working Environment Act: Ministry of Employment Act no 1072 of 7 September 2010

Bekendtgørelse af lov om arbejdsmiljø: Beskæftigelsesministeriets lovbekendtgørelse nr. 1072 af 7. september 2010

• 1

  For a detailed examination of trade unions in Denmark see Denmark: Trade unions still afloat at ebb tide by  Herman Knudsen, Jens Lind and Bjarke Refslund in Trade Unions in the European Union, edited by Jeremy Waddington, Torsten Müller and Kurt Vandaele, Peter Lang, 2023 https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/2023-06/Chapter8_Denmark_Trade%20unions%20still%20afloat%20at%20ebb%20tide_2023.pdf

• 2

  See Statistics Denmark for the figure for employees in unions, Trade unions: 2024 https://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik/emner/arbejde-og-indkomst/befolkningens-arbejdsmarkedsstatus/loenmodtagerorganisationer and union websites for the figures for total membership for individual confederations

• 3

  Calculated on the basis of total union membership of 1,960,925 at 31 December 2018 and total employment of 3,042,755 in the fourth quarter of 2024 – both figures from Statistics Denmark

• 4

  OECD Data Explorer: Trade union density, OECD,2025 https://www.oecd.org/en/data/datasets/oecdaias-ictwss-database.html

• 5

   FH website https://fho.dk/ and Statistics Denmark

• 6

   Akademikerne website https://www.akademikerne.dk/omakademikerne/ and Statistics Denmark

• 7

  See Derfor er FH-fagforeninger afgørende for danske lønmodtagere, by Flemming H Grønsund, FH, 1 October 2024 https://fho.dk/blog/2024/10/01/derfor-er-de-gule-ikke-rigtige-fagforeninger/

• 8

  Statistics Denmark

• 9

  The figures for individual unions are published by Statistics Denmark: LONMED3: Lønmodtagerorganisationernes medlemstal pr. 31.12 (Enkelte organisationer) efter medlemsorganisationer og køn.

• 10

  Finansforbundet optaget i FH, Finansforbundet, 10 June 2022 https://finansforbundet.dk/dk/nyheder/2022/finansforbundet-optaget-i-fh/

• 11

  CO-industri Medlemsorganisationer https://www.co-industri.dk/fakta/medlemsorganisationer

• 12

  Akademikerne  Medlemsorganisationer https://www.akademikerne.dk/medlemsorganisationer/

• 13

  The source for membership figures for all Akademikerne unions is Akademikerne  Medlemsorganisationer https://www.akademikerne.dk/medlemsorganisationer/ for total membership and Statistics Denmark for employee members

• 14

  Statement of political principles, LO and FTF, 13 April 2018

• 15

  Mål og politisk grundlag, FH https://fho.dk/om-fagbevaegelsens-hovedorganisation/maal/ 

• 16

  Om Akademikerne, https://www.akademikerne.dk/omakademikerne/ 

• 17

  Danish Constitution https://www.thedanishparliament.dk/-/media/sites/ft/pdf/publikationer/the-constitutional-act-of-denmark.pdf 

• 18

  LBK nr 424 af 08/05/2006 https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2006/424

• 19

  Statistics Denmark: Statbank tables LONMED2 and LBESK20

• 20

  Om Det Faglige Hus https://www.detfagligehus.dk/om-os/om-det-faglige-hus/

• 21

  See Derfor er FH-fagforeninger afgørende for danske lønmodtagere, by Flemming H Grønsund, FH, 1 October 2024 https://fho.dk/blog/2024/10/01/derfor-er-de-gule-ikke-rigtige-fagforeninger/

• 22

  Fagbevaegelsens Faelles Udfordring, FH Kongres 2022 https://fho.dk/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/publikation-fagbevaegelsens-faelles-udfordring-v2-web.pdf 

• 23

  Statistics Denmark:Trade unions https://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik/emner/arbejde-og-indkomst/befolkningens-arbejdsmarkedsstatus/loenmodtagerorganisationer

• 24

  For a detailed examination of collective bargaining in Denmark see Denmark: the sacred cow of collective bargaining is still alive by Jens Lind, in Collective bargaining in Europe: towards an endgame, edited by Torsten Müller, Kurt Vandaele and Jeremy Waddington, ETUI, 2019 https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/CB1-Chapitre%2B8.pdf

• 25

  Hovedaftalen, DA,1993 https://www.da.dk/globalassets/overenskomst-og-arbejdsret/hovedaftalen 

• 26

  Collective bargaining and minimum wage regime in Denmark Christian Lyhne Ibsen, FAOS – University of Copenhagen https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/2025-06/Denmark_Collective%20bargaining%20and%20minimum%20wage%20regime_2025.pdf and Fakta: Hvordan fastsættes løn?, FAOS, November 2024 https://faos.ku.dk/temasider/ok-forhandlinger/ok-2025/fakta_ok25/Fakta_Hvordan_fasts_ttes_l_n_OK25.pdf 

• 27

  Bliv klogere på alle OK24-resultaterne for både staten, kommunerne og regionerne, Akademikerne, 2025 https://www.akademikerne.dk/overenskomstforhandlinger/

• 28

  I Danmark er de fleste dækket af overenskomst, DA, 2025 https://www.da.dk/politik-og-analyser/overenskomst-og-arbejdsret/2025/i-danmark-er-de-fleste-daekket-af-overenskomst/ 

• 29

  OECD Data Explorer: Core indicators, OECD,2025 https://www.oecd.org/en/data/datasets/oecdaias-ictwss-database.html

• 30

  Den danske model skal tilbage i topform: FH’s forslag til at styrke den danske model, FH, 2022 https://fho.dk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/den-danske-model-skal-tilbage-i-topform.pdf

• 31

  Hvor meget af virksomheden tæller med ved opgørelsen af 50 pct.-reglen? Dansk Erherv, 2019 https://www.danskerhverv.dk/presse-og-nyheder/nyheder/2019/februar/hvor-meget-af-virksomheden-taller-med-ved-opgorelsen-af-50-pct.-reglen

• 32

  ollective bargaining and minimum wage regime in Denmark Christian Lyhne Ibsen, FAOS – University of Copenhagen https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/2025-06/Denmark_Collective%20bargaining%20and%20minimum%20wage%20regime_2025.pdf

• 33

  Forhandling, samarbejde og konfliktløsning på arbejdspladsen Rapport 2 i TR2024-undersøgelsen, Table 2.1 by Trine P. Larsen, Jens Arnholtz, Steen E. Navrbjerg, Lærke Høgenhaven, & Mikkel Møller Johansen, FAOS, 2025 https://faos.ku.dk/publikationer/forskningsnotater/rapporter-2019-25/Rapport_206_-_Forhandling__samarbejde_og_konfliktl_sning_p__arbejdspladsen_-_rapport_2_i_TR2024-unders_gelsen.pdf

• 34

  Hovedaftalen, DA,1993 https://www.da.dk/globalassets/overenskomst-og-arbejdsret/hovedaftalen

• 35

  See https://www.arbejdsretten.dk/media/14645/regler-for-behandling-af-faglig-strid.pdf

• 36

  See Denmark: Trade unions still afloat at ebb tide by  Herman Knudsen, Jens Lind and Bjarke Refslund in Trade Unions in the European Union, edited by Jeremy Waddington, Torsten Müller and Kurt Vandaele, Peter Lang, 2023 https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/2023-06/Chapter8_Denmark_Trade%20unions%20still%20afloat%20at%20ebb%20tide_2023.pdf

• 37

  See §2(4) of the Act on Mediation in Industrial Disputes https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2002/709

• 38

  See Vejledning om tavshedspligt, udsættelse og mæglingsforslag (Guidance on confidentiality, postponement and mediation proposal) Conciliation Institution https://www.forligsinstitutionen.dk/media/15695/vejledning-om-tavshedspligt-udsaettelse-og-maeglingsforslag.pdf

• 39

  1998 Annual Review for Denmark, Jørgen Steen Madsen, Eurofound, 1998 https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/publications/all/1998-annual-review-denmark

• 40

  Danish government intervenes to end nurses strike, Reuters, 2021 https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/danish-government-intervenes-end-nurses-strike-2021-08-27/ and Denmark: Union dismay as Government intervention ends teachers' lock-out, Education International, 2013 https://www.ei-ie.org/en/item/18817:denmark-union-dismay-as-government-intervention-ends-teachers-lock-out 

• 41

  https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2017/1003

• 42

  https://fho.dk/ok23/ok-leksikon/

• 43

  See Vreden syder efter regeringsindgreb, DSR https://dsr.dk/sygeplejersken/arkiv/sy-nr-2021-10/vreden-syder-efter-regeringsindgreb

• 44

   Arbejdsretten: Arbejdet skal holdes normaliseret  (Labour law: Work must be normalised) https://dsr.dk/sygeplejersken/arkiv/sy-nr-2021-12/arbejdsretten-arbejdet-skal-holdes-normaliseret#

• 45

  Ny overenskomst for industrien sætter familielivet i centrum, COHi-industri, February 2025, https://www.co-industri.dk/artikler/ny-overenskomst-industrien-saetter-familielivet-i-centrum

• 46

  OK24: Dine løn- og ansættelsesvilkår, FOA, 2024 https://www.foa.dk/temaer/ok-forhandlinger/ok24

• 47

  Ny overenskomst for industrien sætter familielivet i centrum, CO-industri, February 2025, https://www.co-industri.dk/artikler/ny-overenskomst-industrien-saetter-familielivet-i-centrum

• 48

  OECD Data Explorer: Core indicators, OECD,2025 https://www.oecd.org/en/data/datasets/oecdaias-ictwss-database.html

• 49

  Collective bargaining and minimum wage regime in Denmark Christian Lyhne Ibsen, FAOS – University of Copenhagen https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/2025-06/Denmark_Collective%20bargaining%20and%20minimum%20wage%20regime_2025.pdf

• 50

  Den danske model skal tilbage i topform: FH’s forslag til at styrke den danske model, FH, 2022 https://fho.dk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/den-danske-model-skal-tilbage-i-topform.pdf

• 51

  Lønstrukturkomitéen, 2023 https://loenstrukturkomiteen.dk/ and Lønstrukturkomitéen giver et solidt fælles grundlag, FH, 2023 https://fho.dk/blog/2023/06/16/loenstrukturkomiteen-giver-et-solidt-faelles-grundlag/

• 52

  For more on the discussion on the minimum wage in Denmark see Collective bargaining and minimum wage regime in Denmark Christian Lyhne Ibsen, FAOS – University of Copenhagen https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/2025-06/Denmark_Collective%20bargaining%20and%20minimum%20wage%20regime_2025.pdf

• 53

  Hovedaftalen, DA,1993 https://www.da.dk/globalassets/overenskomst-og-arbejdsret/hovedaftalen

• 54

  Samarbejdsaftalen 2006, DA and LO, 2006 https://fho.dk/wp-content/uploads/lo/2017/05/4012-samarbejdsaftalen2006.pdf

• 55

  European Company Survey 2019 - Workplace practices unlocking employee potential, by Gijs van Houten and Giovanni Russo, Eurofound 2020, Figures for Table 72 https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/system/files/2020-11/ef20001en.pdf

• 56

  Arbejdsmiljørepræsentanten som organisationsrepræsentant Rapport 4 i TR2024-undersøgelsen Table 2:1 by Lærke Høgenhaven, Steen E. Navrbjerg, Jens Arnholtz, Trine P. Larsen & Mikkel Møller Johansen, FAOS, 2025 https://faos.ku.dk/publikationer/forskningsnotater/rapporter-2019-25/Rapport_208_-_Arbejdsmilj_repr_sentanten_som_organisationsrepr_sentant_-_rapport_4_i_TR2024-unders_gelsen.pdf

• 57

  Tillidsrepræsentant-undersøgelsen 2010 Rapport I Tillidsrepræsentanten og arbejdspladsen by  Trine P. Larsen, Steen E. Navrbjerg and Mikkel Møller Johansen, 2010 https://faos.ku.dk/pdf/boger-og-rapporter/2010/Rapport_I_-_Tillidsrepr_sentanten_og_arbejdspladsen.pdf

• 58

  Co-determination institutions: deeply  rooted in many Danish firms, but  others lacking formal employee  involvement by Guido Friebel, Casper Berg Lavmand Larsen and Johannes Laust Reese Hansen, Rockwool Foundation, 2025  https://www.rfberlin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/RFX_Works_councils_project_May2025.pdf

• 59

  Tillidsvalgte står stærkt, men fundamentet er udfordret, FAOS, 2025 https://faos.ku.dk/nyheder/tillidsvalgte-staar-staerkt-men-fundamentet-er-udfordret/

• 60

  Tillidsrepræsentanten og relationerne på arbejdspladsen Rapport 1 i TR2024-undersøgelsen,Chapter 2.2   by 

  Steen E. Navrbjerg, Jens Arnholtz, Lærke Høgenhagen, Mikkel Møller Johansen & Trine P. Larsen, FAOS, 2025 https://faos.ku.dk/publikationer/forskningsnotater/rapporter-2019-25/Rapport_205_-_Tillidsrepr_sentanten_og_relationerne_p__arbejdspladsen_-_rapport_1_i_TR2024-unders_gelsen.pdf

• 61

  Co-determination institutions: deeply  rooted in many Danish firms, but  others lacking formal employee  involvement by Guido Friebel, Casper Berg Lavmand Larsen and Johannes Laust Reese Hansen, Rockwool Foundation, 2025  https://www.rfberlin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/RFX_Works_councils_project_May2025.pdf 

• 62

  Forhandling, samarbejde og konfliktløsning på arbejdspladsen Rapport 2 i TR2024-undersøgelsen, by Trine P. Larsen, Jens Arnholtz, Steen E. Navrbjerg, Lærke Høgenhaven, & Mikkel Møller Johansen, FAOS, 2025 https://faos.ku.dk/publikationer/forskningsnotater/rapporter-2019-25/Rapport_206_-_Forhandling__samarbejde_og_konfliktl_sning_p__arbejdspladsen_-_rapport_2_i_TR2024-unders_gelsen.pdf

• 63

  Samarbejdsaftalen 2006, LO and DA, 2006 https://fho.dk/wp-content/uploads/lo/2017/05/4012-samarbejdsaftalen2006.pdf

• 64

  Industrial Agreement 2025 – 2028, Chapter 1, Clauses 1 and 2 CO-industri and Dansk Industri, 2025 https://www.danskindustri.dk/DownloadDocument?id=591700&docid=161722

• 65

   Industrial Agreement 2025 – 2028, Chapter 1, Clause 1, CO-industri and Dansk Industri, 2025 https://www.danskindustri.dk/DownloadDocument?id=591700&docid=161722

• 66

  Samarbejdsaftalen 2006, LO and DA, 2006 https://fho.dk/wp-content/uploads/lo/2017/05/4012-samarbejdsaftalen2006.pdf

• 67

  Aftale mellem dansk arbejdsgiverforening og ledernes hovedorganisation om lederes deltag­else i samarbejdsudvalg i virksomhederne, LH and DA, 1998 (now section 9 of the Cooperation Agreement)

• 68

  Industrial Agreement 2025 – 2028, Chapter 1, Clause 4 CO-industri and Dansk Industri, 2025 https://fho.dk/wp-content/uploads/lo/2017/05/4012-samarbejdsaftalen2006.pdf    

  https://www.danskindustri.dk/DownloadDocument?id=591700&docid=161722

• 69

  Tillidsrepræsentanten og den faglige organisering Rapport 3 i TR2024-undersøgelsen, Chapter 5 by Jens Arnholtz, Steen E. Navrbjerg, Trine P. Larsen, Lærke Høgenhaven & Mikkel Møller Johansen, FAOS, 2025 https://faos.ku.dk/publikationer/forskningsnotater/rapporter-2019-25/Rapport_207_-_Tillidsrepr_sentanten_og_den_faglige_organisering_-_rapport_3_i_TR2024-unders_gelsen.pdf 

• 70

  Samarbejdsaftalen 2006, LO and DA, 2006 https://fho.dk/wp-content/uploads/lo/2017/05/4012-samarbejdsaftalen2006.pdf

• 71

  Hovedaftalen, DA,1993 https://www.da.dk/globalassets/overenskomst-og-arbejdsret/hovedaftalen

• 72

  Samarbejdsaftalen 2006, LO and DA, 2006 https://fho.dk/wp-content/uploads/lo/2017/05/4012-samarbejdsaftalen2006.pdf

• 73

  About TekSam https://www.teksam.dk/om-teksam/om-teksam

• 74

  Tillidsrepræsentantens rettigheder, Finansforbundet https://www.finansforbundet.dk/dk/for-tillidsvalgte/tillidsrepraesentantens-rettigheder/ and https://www.finansforbundet.dk/dk/for-tillidsvalgte/grunduddannelsen-for-tillidsrepraesentanter/

• 75

  Act on Public and Private Limited Companies (Lov om aktie- og anpartsselskaber), 2010 https://www.systemday.com/wp-content/uploads/danish-companies-act.pdf

• 76

  . Håndbog for medarbejderrepræsentanter, by Martin Lavesen & Jesper Kragh-Stetting, Erhvervsskolernes Forlag 2011

• 77

  Co-determination institutions: deeply  rooted in many Danish firms, but others lacking formal employee  involvement by Guido Friebel, Casper Berg Lavmand Larsen and Johannes Laust Reese Hansen, Rockwool Foundation, 2025  https://www.rfberlin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/RFX_Works_councils_project_May2025.pdf

• 78

  Medarbejdervalgte bestyrelsesmedlemmer I danske virksomheder, by Caspar Rose in Tidsskrift for Arbejdsliv, 7, 3, 34-50, 2005

• 79

  Bekendtgørelse om medarbejderrepræsentation i aktie- og anpartsselskaber 2012 https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2012/344

• 80

  Kønsbalanceloven, 2024 https://danskelove.dk/k%C3%B8nsbalanceloven

• 81

  See Lov om europæiske samarbejdsudvalg, LBK nr.1143/2018, 2018 https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2018/1143

• 82

  See Lov om medarbejderindflydelse i SCE-selskaber 1, LOV nr 241, 2006 https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2006/241

• 83

  Third European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER 2019): Overview Report How European workplaces manage safety and health, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work https://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/esener-2019-overview-report-how-european-workplaces-manage-safety-and-health

• 84

  Arbejdsmiljørepræsentanten som organisationsrepræsentant Rapport 4 i TR2024-undersøgelsen Table 2:1 by Lærke Høgenhaven, Steen E. Navrbjerg, Jens Arnholtz, Trine P. Larsen & Mikkel Møller Johansen, FAOS, 2025 https://faos.ku.dk/publikationer/forskningsnotater/rapporter-2019-25/Rapport_208_-_Arbejdsmilj_repr_sentanten_som_organisationsrepr_sentant_-_rapport_4_i_TR2024-unders_gelsen.pdf

• 85

  For more information on the national context see  OSH system at national level – Denmark by Lothar Lißner, OSH Wiki https://oshwiki.eu/wiki/OSH_system_at_national_level_-_Denmark