Rejection of Proposal from Danish Crown’s Workforce

Randers, September 18, 2013 The objective of the proposal was to revive a portion of Denmark's pig slaughter production that has recently left the country, thereby preserving jobs in the Danish slaughterhouse sector. However, following the rejection of the proposal by Danish Crown's slaughterhouse workers today, it now presents the possibility of bidding farewell to more Danish jobs. - As union representatives, we knew we were venturing into uncharted territory by suggesting that we, the workers, should invest in our own workplaces. We did this with the genuine hope that our peers would back this initiative to protect our jobs, states Lars Mose, Chairman of the union representatives committee and union representative at the Horsens slaughterhouse. Over the past week, Jesper Friis, CEO of DC Pork, and owner representatives Erik Bredholt and Asger Krogsgaard, Chairman and Vice-chairman of Danish Crown’s Board of Directors, respectively, have held meetings with approximately 6,000 DC Pork slaughterhouse workers. - Naturally, there has been some skepticism, but in my opinion, we had a productive conversation and saw a willingness to address the issues, comments Jesper Friis. However, despite the productive talks, a majority of workers today chose to reject the proposal, causing disappointment among Danish Crown’s owners. - Ideally, it's not the workers' responsibility to engage in pig production. But the number of pigs for slaughter produced in Denmark is not proportional to the number of jobs in the country, so it's clearly regrettable that the vote was unsuccessful, states Erik Bredholt, Chairman of Danish Crown’s Board of Directors. In the upcoming months, Danish Crown will determine the best way to align capacity with the number of pigs for slaughter that are and will be slaughtered in Denmark.