Collective agreement for regional employees in OK26

On 4 March, IDA reached an agreement on a new three-year collective agreement for IDA's approximately 2,900 employees in the regional sector. 
 
Malene Matthison-Hansen is IDA's political negotiator in OK26 and chair of the Council of Employees. And she is very pleased with the agreement:
 
'The negotiations have been long and difficult, but we have now succeeded in reaching a good agreement with regional employers, delivering on the highest priority demands we brought to the table – higher salaries and increased flexibility. We have secured a solid increase in real salaries. The agreement also contains a number of measures and initiatives that will give individual engineers, IT specialists and science graduates in the regions greater flexibility in their working lives, which has been a major wish among our members,' she says.

The agreement between Akademikerne, of which IDA is a member, and the Regional Wage and Taxation Board (RLTN) includes the following:

An economic framework and general salary increases

• A total economic framework of 9.2%
• General salary increases totalling 6.27% have been agreed for the period.
• Inflation is estimated at 4.4 per cent for the period, and a significant increase in real earnings is therefore expected.

Implementation of the general salary increases

• 3.01% in 2026, including a technical correction of 0.2% relating to non-inclusion of voluntary contributions in part of the private labour market in Statistics Denmark's calculation of private pay developments.
• 0.76% in 2027
• 2.5% in 2028
• In addition to the general increases, it has been agreed to allocate 0.2 per cent to organisational negotiations, which will primarily be used to increase payments to the free choice salary account.

Other key results

• A free choice scheme with the option to choose between salary, pension and time off, as well as a new flexible day for employees in the middle of their careers.
• A child's third sick day and time off on the day a child is called home sick.
• An additional two weeks of paid parental leave to be shared between parents and modernised parental leave conditions that take into account that families can look very different and have very different needs.
• Special funds to stimulate local pay formation. Improved functionality and transparency in the new payroll systems have also been agreed.
• The regional skills fund will be continued.
• Renewal and modernisation of the agreement on well-being and health in the workplace, including the right to a life stage interview.
  

IDA achieved its three most important demands

Malene Matthison-Hansen points out that IDA entered the negotiations with three clear demands:

• Securing real earnings.
• Better opportunities to balance work and leisure time
• The establishment of a Free Choice Salary Account in the public sector, which not only gives the right to convert salary into pension, but also the right to time off.

'Our members have called for higher salaries and more flexibility in their working lives. We are delivering on those demands. We are implementing a number of improvements that will make a difference to our members' everyday lives. Both now and in the years to come,'  says Malene Matthison-Hansen, who is also pleased that the collective agreement includes the option of taking paid leave on a child's third day of illness.

At the same time, a Free Choice Salary Account will be created in the regional sector. In concrete terms, it functions as a savings account into which the employer regularly pays a percentage of the employee's holiday-entitled salary. The employee can decide how the money is to be used – it can be used as extra pay, holiday days, senior or care days, or a payment into an extra pension scheme.

Read: Regional agreement (in Danish)

Read: Fact sheet for the regions (in Danish)