Union activists handed out flyers at four Novo Nordisk construction sites this week, demanding Denmark’s most valuable company take direct responsibility for foreign workers allegedly underpaid and illegally employed on its billion-kroner building boom.
Early Thursday morning, labour activists from Byggefagenes Samvirke and allied groups staged coordinated actions at four separate Novo Nordisk building sites. They distributed flyers calling on the pharmaceutical giant to answer for conditions across its entire supply chain. The sites, all major Novo projects, saw activists target shift changes to reach maximum numbers of workers, including foreign crews who rarely interact with Danish unions.
This marks an escalation in a campaign that has already seen blockades, red flags and at least one subcontractor removed from a Kalundborg site. The message is simple: Novo may outsource construction, but it cannot outsource moral responsibility for the people building its factories.
The pattern behind the protests
The flyer campaign follows months of documented abuses. According to Fagbladet 3F, foreign workers on one Novo site flew 10,000 kilometres for a better life, only to end up in overcrowded housing paying up to DKK 3,000 per month for a single bed. Others reportedly had to beg supervisors for food money after wage deductions.
In one Kalundborg case, local media confirmed illegal labour on a Novo construction site. Novo pointed to subcontractor responsibility, and no sanctions followed for two implicated companies. This pattern of underpayment, poor housing and sometimes outright illegal employment has unions arguing that self-regulation has failed.
Novo Nordisk is pouring around DKK 42 billion into new production facilities in Kalundborg alone, with thousands of construction workers involved. That kind of growth draws labour from across Europe and beyond, often hired through long chains of subcontractors. Many are not covered by Danish collective agreements, leaving them vulnerable to pay below standard rates.
Blockades and pressure tactics
The flyer action comes on the heels of a successful blockade in Kalundborg. Around 500 demonstrators showed up at a Novo building site entrance, launching a sympathy conflict that eventually forced at least one subcontractor without a collective agreement off the project. For unions, visible direct action works when access to worksites is denied and when foreign workers lack the networks to find help on their own.
As stated by Mads Andersen of 3F Byggegruppen, the legal responsibility lies with the subcontractor employing illegal workers, but that does not free Novo from moral responsibility. The company has said it expects all suppliers to follow Danish law and standards. Yet union representatives report being turned away at some sites, notably in Odense, where a Novo production director argued that red flags in front of workplaces do not solve pay problems in the long run.
Two tiers, one building site
I have covered Denmark long enough to know the gap between its image and its labour reality. The same country that prides itself on egalitarian values runs a segmented labour market where nationality and contract type determine everything. Highly paid international staff work a few kilometres from migrant construction crews sleeping four to a room and sending half their wages back home after deductions.
Denmark’s labour model relies on collective agreements rather than statutory minimum wages. That works well if you are in the system. If you are not, you are on your own. For expats in white-collar roles at places like Novo, the dissonance is uncomfortable. Your company profits are record-breaking; the workers building your new labs are reportedly begging for meal money.
What happens next
Unions are not stopping with flyers. 3F has reported again and again there is underpayment and miserable conditions for foreign colleagues on Novo sites, framing this as a pattern rather than isolated cases. The political pressure is mounting, and Novo’s global brand as an ethical health company is increasingly at odds with stories emerging from its Danish building sites.
For foreign workers on these sites, the practical advice is clear. Get a written contract in a language you understand. Check if your employer has a Danish collective agreement. Contact 3F or Byggefagenes Samvirke if something feels wrong; they have English-speaking staff and experience recovering unpaid wages. If housing is tied to your job and costs are suspiciously high, seek advice from local tenant organisations or municipal services.
Novo’s expansion has been an economic windfall for Denmark, but growth at this speed reveals uncomfortable truths. When you build fast and outsource labour, someone always pays the price. Right now, that someone is often a foreign worker far from home, without a union card and without much recourse. The activists handing out flyers at dawn know that. So does Novo.
