ABSTRACT
Da Mette Frederiksen lukkede ned for det danske samfund i midten af marts måned 2020 – som respons på den globale coronapandemi – var det en historisk uset grad af intervention på det danske arbejdsmarked, der medførte en næsten øjeblikkelig nedlukning for mange danske arbejdspladser både i det private og det offentlige. Det var på mange måder en usædvanlig beslutning, som fik store konsekvenser på stort set alle samfundsområder. Siden anden Verdenskrig, har der ikke været gennemført så pludselige og omfattende ændringer af arbejdsvilkår og arbejdets organisering med konsekvenser for de sociale relationer på arbejdspladser og for forholdene på arbejdsmarkedet mere generelt, som det skete under coronapandemien. I starten steg arbejdsløsheden voldsomt, og man indførte en række hjælpepakker til både virksomheder og lønmodtagere, som blev hjemsendt, f.eks. den såkaldte lønkompensation som skulle holde hånden under de ansatte i særligt udsatte brancher. Denne tilgang var ikke unik for Danmark. Alternate abstract:When Mette Frederiksen shut down Danish society in mid-March 2020 – in response to the global corona pandemic – it was a historically unprecedented degree of intervention in the Danish labor market, which led to an almost immediate shutdown of many Danish workplaces both in the private and the public sector. It was in many ways an unusual decision, which had major consequences in virtually all areas of society. Since the Second World War, there have not been such sudden and comprehensive changes to working conditions and the organization of work with consequences for social relations at workplaces and for conditions on the labor market more generally, as happened during the corona pandemic. At the start, unemployment rose sharply, and a number of aid packages were introduced for both companies and wage earners, who were sent home, e.g. the so-called wage compensation, which was supposed to hold the hand of the employees in particularly vulnerable industries. This approach was not unique to Denmark.