Danish News in Brief: Coop hands 2,000 teenagers their pink slips

Meanwhile, it is feared that a similar number of Danes got caught up in the recent BA hack

The supermarket owner Coop has decided it will no longer employ workers aged under 16.

It has called upon its 1,200 stores to let go 2,000 employees – some of whom were as young as 13.

No longer worth it
Thomas Hermann, its health and safety manager, indicated the new policy was mainly due to the ever-increasing cost of fines and injunctions.

There has been a tightening of working environment rules regarding young employees, which has resulted in Coop receiving eight orders in 2017 and five so far in 2018.


New flood protection dykes to line the Great Belt Bridge
Sund & Bælt, the company responsible for the Great Belt Bridge, is installing new dykes that are designed to withstand a ‘once in a 10,000-year event’ – waves that are more than 3.25 metres above average. They will replace dykes designed to withstand waves of 2.5 metres higher than average. The new dykes, which will be able to withstand waves more than 4.4 metres above average, should be finished by 2021 at a cost of 30 million kroner. Their installation won’t affect traffic flow.

Danes affected by British Airways hack
Many Danes have been affected by the British Airways hack in which cyber-criminals obtained the details of 380,000 credit cards from the airline. The cards were used in transactions between August 21 and September 5. However, the hackers did not obtain any information relating to the customers’ flight details or passports. The affected Danes have been advised to protect their details accordingly.

Rigshospitalet confirms first ever recipient of an artificial heart
Rigshospitalet is preparing to treat its first ever recipient of an artificial heart. The technology, developed by Airbus in France, is used as a last-ditch resort to treat critical patients. It is expected it could save the lives of 30-40 patients a year in Denmark alone. The artificial hearts, although still undergoing trials, will beat 40 million times a year. So far their use has been approved in four countries: Denmark, France, the Czech Republic and Kazakhstan.





  • How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    Being part of a trade union is a long-established norm for Danes. But many internationals do not join unions – instead enduring workers’ rights violations. Find out how joining a union could benefit you, and how to go about it.

  • Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals are overrepresented in the lowest-paid fields of agriculture, transport, cleaning, hotels and restaurants, and construction – industries that classically lack collective agreements. A new analysis from the Workers’ Union’s Business Council suggests that internationals rarely join trade unions – but if they did, it would generate better industry standards.

  • Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    The numbers are especially striking amongst the 3,477 business and economics students polled, of whom 31 percent elected Novo Nordisk as their favorite, compared with 20 percent last year.