Protests at Denmark’s largest new hospital end as workers secure wage deal
Tuesday 2nd June 2026 on 16:30 in
Denmark
A week-long protest by foreign construction workers at the Nyt OUH superspecialty hospital site in Odense has ended after a special agreement with the Wage Earners’ Guarantee Fund secured 75 percent of their unpaid wages within days, Danish broadcaster DR reports.
Workers from the bankrupt firm Techno Build had blockaded the entrance to the construction site, demanding back pay and pensions. Torben Knudsen, chair of the 3F construction workers’ union on Funen, called the deal unprecedented. “I’ve never seen an agreement like this before,” he said. “They’ll receive 75 percent of their money within days once they file a claim. The rest will follow later.”
The agreement, brokered by curator and lawyer Mikkel Løgsted, involves the main contractor, Odense Hospital Project Team (OHPT), covering some of the outstanding debts to the bankruptcy estate. This allows the estate to process wage claims in coordination with the guarantee fund. Løgsted declined to disclose further details but confirmed teams had worked “day and night” to resolve the situation.
“I won’t go into specifics, but this is an excellent deal that ensures workers with valid claims get part of their money far faster than usual,” he said.
The protest’s de facto spokesman, Ionut Cimpuesu, had threatened a hunger strike if wages were not paid in full immediately. Under the new agreement, he will return to Romania. “I need to rest and think,” he told DR. “This isn’t what we—what I—dreamed of. Now I’ll go home to my family and figure out what’s next.”
Some workers will seek jobs in Denmark, while others will leave the country. The Nyt OUH project, Denmark’s largest new hospital, was originally scheduled to open in 2022 but is now expected to admit its first patients in late 2027. The 247,000-square-meter facility, with 912 beds and 52 operating theaters, is being built by Italian contractors CMB and Itinera under the OHPT consortium, with 60 percent of construction costs covered by the state.