Finansforbundet Denmark is the first union in the world to negotiate a national collective agreement in FinTech, a sector that is particularly vulnerable to platform work and unregulated working conditions. For this extraordinary achievement, the Danish finance union is one of the recipients of UNI Global Union’s Breaking Through Award 2021.
The FinTech sector is growing, and in Denmark, Finansforbundet embraced this change by supporting start-ups in order to build trust and mutual understanding. This work paid off and solid foundations have been laid that are already delivering: workers in the sector have their first collective agreement.
The union’s relentless work to organize the sector began in 2015, and in late 2020, they successfully negotiated a national collective agreement. The agreement provides a unique opportunity to recruit more union members in FinTech companies as well as to elect shop stewards in the workplaces, as employee representation is a defined right and an integral part of the collective agreement.
“Trade unions are relevant – more than ever. An organized labour market is fundamental for economic and social growth. Modern companies – also in new and emerging sectors built on technology – will have to focus on sustainability as a precondition for good business, to compete on products and services and not on working conditions. We have worked intensely with several stakeholders to build a growing FinTech sector in Denmark, providing value to the Danish society and new job possibilities for our members,” said Michael Budolfsen, Vice-President of Finansforbundet.
“This has been a long-term effort and we hope that fintech companies all over the world will follow the good example from their colleagues in Denmark and engage in a constructive dialogue with our comrades in UNI Global Union. We are grateful and proud to receive this award,” he continued.
