McDonald’s Workers in Denmark Won Good Pay and Benefits Through Striking
In Denmark, McDonald’s workers receive $22 per hour and 6 weeks of vacation. But it’s not because Danish capitalists are more enlightened — it’s because, when McDonald’s entered the country in the 1980s, unions launched mass strikes and boycotts.
In 1988 and 1989, in addition to carrying out massive strikes, unions campaigned for consumers to boycott McDonald’s. (Arbejdermuseet)
Every few months, a prominent person or publication points out that McDonald’s workers in Denmark receive $22 per hour, six weeks of vacation, and sick pay. This compensation comes on top of the general slate of social benefits in Denmark, which includes child allowances, health care, childcare, paid leave, retirement, and education through college, among other things.
In these discussions, relatively little is said about how this all came to be. This is sad because it’s a good story and because the story provides a good window into why Nordic labor markets are the way they are.
McDonald’s opened its first store in Denmark in 1981. At that point, it was operating in over twenty countries and had successfully avoided unions in all but one, Sweden.
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