The Collective Agreement and the Rules about Working Hours

In the coming collective agreement period, your working hours will be regulated according to law 409, just like before. The parties in the state sector did not succeed in coming to an agreement about new rules about working hours for teachers.

However, the agreement contains a number of specific clarifications. At the same time, the agreement prepares the ground for the possibility that the parties will negotiate the rules about working hours at the collective bargaining in 2021, if the parties in the local government sector will come to an agreement about working hours before or no later than at the collective bargaining in three years.

Local agreements approved
In the collective agreement, the parties confirm that it is possible to make local agreements that “... deviate from or supplement the central rules about working hours,” which means the rules in law 409 and in the agreement about working hours for civil servants.

In both 2013 and 2015, the Agency for Modernisation (“Moderniseringsstyrelsen”) warned the schools about making local agreements about working hours. The agency thought that it was against the spirit of law 409. Now, the parties confirm that making local agreements is a possibility.

At the same time, the parties write in the text in the collective agreement that their joint goal is “... a close and trusting cooperation between the trade union representative and management.”

Finally, the parties agreed that management or the trade union representative can ask for consultancy from the parties in the central collective agreement “... in case the cooperation about working hours is not successful at the school/institution.” The Teachers’ Central Organization and the Agency for Modernisation will evaluate the need for consultancy in each individual situation.

The task list gets renewed attention
The parties have also defined the work with the task list more specifically, and they have clarified the role of the trade union representative in that work.

In the agreement, they write: “Before the school year starts, management and the trade union representative will discuss how to handle planning of the school year/work year at the school/institution, including how the school/institution can structure the communication about the task list.”

Thus, it has been phrased as a requirement and an obligation.

The issue will be discussed again
Finally, the agreement states that the parties will negotiate the rules about the teachers’ working hours at the collective bargaining in 2021, if Local Government Denmark (Danish abbreviation: KL) and the Teachers’ Central Organization can come to an agreement about new working hours.

Thus, the result of the negotiations in the local government area will form the basis for the negotiations about working hours in the independent schools.

The parties are aware that an agreement about working hours must include the fact that there are different types of schools in the state sector. If there are special circumstances in the individual types of schools that require adjustments compared to the agreement in local government area, they will be part of the negotiations.

The agreement in the local government area

• The working hours will still be regulated according to law 409.
• Right after the conclusion of the collective bargaining, the parties will start a binding disclosure and binding negotiations about the working hours and other initiatives that promote good teaching. The work will be carried out by a committee with a committee chairman.
• The committee will analyse and disclose the challenges and opportunities concerning the rules about working hours for teachers. The work will include possible derived effects.
• The committee must present recommendations and suggestions to solutions “... with the purpose of creating the highest possible quality in teaching, supporting a good working environment and strengthening the professional capital.” In addition, it is stressed that the commission must disclose “... how the rules about working hours can create transparency for the teachers by clarifying the connection between the tasks the teacher must solve and the time that is available to the teacher.”
• The parties have a joint wish to renew their cooperation and for a new start for the primary and lower secondary school (the Danish Folkeskole) and the different types of local government schools.