Denmark (SiD). The SiD is the country's largest union, organizing unskilled workers, some drivers, and semi-skilled workers in most industries, transport and gorernment services.
This assault on the closed shop was answered by 3,000 organized bus drivers
Another major fight for 35-hour week looms in Copenhagen, first with short strikes and demonstrations, and later in the spring with full-scale strikes and even blocking of the roads. These actions created chaos on the roads and local trains in the Copenhagen area, where about 2 million people live and where a substantial part of the country's indus-
Denmark's conservative-led bourgeois coalition government under Premier
Poul Schlueter was able to celebrate its second birthday September 10 in a relatively quiet political atmosphere.
the horizon.
Most economists, including the government's own experts, and leading business people expect the situation of the balance of payments and government debt to grow worse and to threaten the economic
Moreover, the leaders of the country's biggest trade unions have said, with varying degrees of definiteness, that they are going to demand a shorter workweek in the spring, when the contracts covering most of the labor force run out. A large-scale strike for shorter worktime, along the lines of the one conducted in West Germany, is becoming more and more
Joergen COLDING-JOERGENSEN
Despite the indecisive result of the
January 10, 1984, parliamentary election,
(1) the Schlueter government has gradually been able to consolidate a stable, if very narrow, majority. It took Schlueter until April 1984 to conclude an agreement with the small liberal party, the
Radikale Venstre, which did not want to be held responsible for the government's
But there are storm clouds on other OECD countries, have risen during the crisis.
The government got an excellent opening for launching an offensive against the unions in fact just before Easter. A group of bus drivers headed by a member of the coalition party Venstre - Per Brandt -refused to be members of the recognized union, the Specialarbejderforbundet in try, trade and public-sector services is concentrated.
The first round of this fight was won by the bus drivers, when the Social Democrats on the board of the public transport company Hovedstadens Traf ikselskab (HT) were forced to vote for firing the nonunion workers.
In this conflict, the Schlueter government chose to keep out of the direct line of fire. At first, it limited itself to verbal attacks on the unions, the strikers and the Social Democrats. Then, it turned the whole matter over to the legal system, leaving it to the courts to decide whether the firing of nonunion workers was legal, whether the fired workers have a right to financial compensation, and, if so, who is to pay. Some time will probably pass before the judges come to a conclusion on all this.
Following the victory of the union cutbacks in health, education and social Thousands strike security. On the other hand, the only immediate possibility for a majority, a for peace in Denmark deal between the government parties and the right-wing populist Fremskridtspartiet, It was five minutes to noon on October 24. Suddenly buses stopped, young people was not very palatable for the more walked out in the street and blocked the traffic. respectable Conservatives. And at noon, when the civil defence air alarm sounded as usual, the
However, on April 25, Schlueter fin- symbolic strike was over, and the traffic started up again. ally managed to make an agreement with This was the second short strike in Denmark against nuclear rearmament. It was supported by the Danish Trade Union Federation (LO) which organises over 90% the Radikale Venstre. Also, the govern- The social democratic-led trade-union federament was reinforced by the defection of tions in the public sector which organise over 90% of the public workforce, had not one deputy from the Fremskridtspartiet, said whether they supported the symbolic strike or not. who announced that he would support the government if it were in danger, The strike was only a very modest success, and just a fraction of the two million without posing any political conditions. In most places workers had not made banners
In order to stabilize its position in or organised street demonstrations. People just stopped working and talked with parliament, the government had to pay a price. The budget cuts have been pain- The big state-run hospital, Rigshospitalet, in Copenhagen with 5,000 employees ful enough, especially for the unem- of the day-shift, walked out in an organised group with light-blue peace balloons ployed. But they have still not been any- and a big banner in the street and stopped the traffic. where near deep enough to solve the The reasons for the modest turnout are several. The Danish Trade Union Fed government's financial problems, which eration had felt it necessary to 'show the flag' alongside the peace movement. So it are the worst of any OECD country. decided to call the strike and wrote to all the trade unions to organise it. It came The balance-of-payments deficit has also unstuck within the social-democratic bureaucracy, which is not used to this sort of worsened sharply, despite the economic upturn in the capitalist world. Thus, Also the idea of a five minute-long general strike is rather ridiculous. Either you Schlueter has in no way succeeded in are serious about the danger of nuclear holocaust, or you are not. It is obvious to everyone that five minutes is far too short, and is, therefore, not meant as a really taking advantage of the upturn to stab- serious strike against the warmongers. So it was not surprising that a large section of ilize the ailing Danish economy. the Danish working class regarded the strike as somewhat superfluous.
The government has also not been able However, it is obvious that thousands of ordinary people did participate in some to deal any significant blows to the trade way in the strike. People who seldom go on peace movement demonstrations, and unions. Owing to very strong official usually only follow them on TV and radio, came out. and unofficial closed-shop agreements people a chance to show what they think about nuclear arms and in this way it and a tight connection between unem- demonstrated what could have been achieved and could still be achieved in the ployment insurance and trade-union membership, the membership figures of trade unions in Denmark, unlike in many 16 work stopped. of all workers in the private sector. members stopped work. organised wage earners participated. each other for five minutes. was one of the more active workplaces. activity and had no idea what to do.
In lots of factories and offices
But in fact many of their
About two hundred workers, that is 10%
So the strike gave many
Soren BECH
International Viewpoint 12 November 1984
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DENMARK
5 MINUTTER FOR FRED bus drivers, workers in many other workplaces have successfully resisted attempts to crack the union shop. And Per Brandt has, by the way, found it very difficult to get a job. In a front-page story September 8, Politiken, Copenhagen's biggest daily, told the heart-breaking tale of how this valiant fighter for freedom against union power only managed to stay on his last job three days before his workmates in a small electrical installation firm got him fired again.