Copenhagen ends Dao letter delivery deal over labour conditions

Copenhagen Municipality will terminate its agreement with Dao to deliver letters to mailboxes in Copenhagen at the end of August, DR reports.

Mayor Sisse Marie Welling of the Socialist People’s Party said the decision was made because the distribution company could not fully meet the municipality’s requirements for pay and working conditions.

“Dao cannot guarantee that its partners pay their employees wages covered by collective agreements,” Welling wrote in a letter to Transport Minister Signe Munk, also of the Socialist People’s Party.

Welling said she would invite the minister to discuss how suppliers and subcontractors could be subject to better oversight, as well as how proper pay and working conditions could be ensured.

Dao took over letter delivery in Denmark in 2026. In a letter to the transport minister, the company said Copenhagen Municipality had presented it with extensive requirements, including labour clauses for Dao shops where letters and parcels are handed in. Dao said those requirements had been put in place.

Dao director Hans Peter Nissen said the company still had a dispute with the municipality over who could report and sanction possible violations.

It remains unclear how the municipality’s letter delivery will operate after August. Initially, responsibility will lie with individual municipal departments, Welling said.

She said Copenhagen residents should not worry about failing to receive their letters, but added that the municipality would have to find a solution for the interim period. The transport minister has declined an interview until she has received and read Welling’s letter.