Last week on Friday, Finansforbundet – the Danish financial services union that represents employees – issued a second warning of strike action in light of developments in the negotiation of a collective working agreement with Finanssektorens Arbejdsgiverforening, the Danish employers’ association for the financial sector.

This follows a warning in February after a breakdown in the negotiations resulted in a referral to Forligsinstitution, the public body that arbitrates disagreements in the negotiation of collective agreements.

Kent Petersen, the chairman of Finansforbundet, said in a press release that “it is still our wish to reach a solution at the negotiation table, and we definitely hope that this is still possible."

The law governing the arbitration process prevents the parties from divulging details of the negotiations at this stage, but Petersen said “issuing this conflict warning is necessary”.

Potential shutdown
The current collective agreement applies until the end of March so the earliest date that a strike could begin would be April 1.

Finansforbundet is the predominant employment union in the financial sector and represents over 53,000 members in all of Denmark’s major financial institutions. Strike action would result in the shutdown of physical branches, electronic banking services and cash machines nationwide.