With a judgment 11 January 2006 the European Court of Human Rights ruled against the Danish system of closed shop agreements. The court in two individual cases found that the Danish system was in contravention of the negative freedom of association following from article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In the Danish system of industrial relations, closed shop agreements exist solely for employers, who are not members of an employer’s federation. In the basic agreement between the Danish Employers Federation and the LO the provisions of any collective agreement are extended to all workers in the enterprise, trade union members or not. Through this system it is ensured that there can be no undercutting of wages through hiring unorganised workers. In these cases we can not enter into a closed shop agreement, nor do we require one. For agreements with unorganised employers, however, these provisions do not apply. In these cases the Danish trade unions see closed shop agreements as a guarantee against undercutting wages. Historically and in specific sectors closed shop agreements have also been tools to ensure the right to organise.

In general closed shop agreements exist in about 10 % of the Danish Labour market. In some sectors, like agriculture they are quite prevalent. In industry they are less so. The Danish Metalworkers Union estimates that 15% of their members work under closed shop agreements.

The system has come under attack in recent years from unrecognised trade unions that often have a liberal or conservative allegiance. Thus the political relationship between the Danish trade union movement and the Social Democratic Party has been a focus of dissent, and this was true for the cases before the human rights court as well.

The court concluded that dismissals for failing to join a particular trade union were in violation of article 11. In the conflict between the need to guarantee trade union freedom and the individual negative right to organise, the court found that trade union freedom was sufficiently ensured even without closed shop agreements. As substantiation of this, it quotes European countries, where no closed shop agreements exist, as well as countries where closed shop systems have been abolished with little or no consequence. Also

As an immediate consequence the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions, LO, has decided to stop enforcing existing closed shop agreements pending legal change in the area.

The complete text of the judgement can be found here:

http://www.echr.coe.int/Eng/Press/2006/Jan/GrandChamberjudgmentSorensen&RasmussenvDenmark110106.htm