Settlement with Danish conditions | arkitektnytt.no
This summer’s debate in the Danish architecture environment has been about young architects’ settlement with the underpayment that has preceded the industry. On June 21 wrote City room monitor about how architects in training are employed in “grossly underpaid” full-time positions – and that this has been a known practice for many years.
24-year-old Lasse Løvstrøm Madsen said, among other things, that, with one of the offers he got from an architectural office, he would earn “twice as much” if he put the till in a grocery store. The story to Madsen was confirmed by a number of anonymous sources and the Danish trade union FAOD stated that “It is time for a final settlement with underpayment and exploitation”. A report from there in 2018 showed examples where the actual hourly wage had been down to DKK 13 an hour.
The situation has been particularly widely debated on LinkedIn and Vandkunsten partner Søren Nielsen has also stepped out in a separate discussion post and pointed out how nice it is that employers with fine cultural education in a welfare society can “contribute to the proletarianisation of their own profession”.
Gives students responsibility
During the summer, there has therefore been a certain amount of pressure on the industry organization Danske Arkitektvirsomderker to also take a position in the debate. And this week got Byrummonitor final answer from the association’s director Lene Espersen:
– I have discussed Byrummonitor’s article (…) with my chairman of the board (…) and we will take up the subject at the next board meeting to talk about how we can best get our members to focus on this.
However, the Danish website makes a point that the Danske Ark director never gets more specific than this in the interview, which was done by e-mail. When asked what the association specifically wants to do, Espersen replies that their “position is that there must be orderly conditions at the architectural offices, also for students.” We naturally recommend that our members take responsibility for ensuring this.’
She also believes that students must take responsibility. Students must also assess the terms offered, which are acceptable to them”, she says and presents the fact that “the architectural offices have the opportunity to shape the architects of the future and students get practical experience from the architectural offices, which is when they have to apply for jobs as architects” .