The origins and achievements of the OGBL

Chronological overview

1916 the foundation of the large trade unions in the steel industry: Luxemburger Berg- und Hüttenarbeiterverband (BHAV) in Esch and Luxemburger Metallarbeiterverband (LMAV) in Luxembourg. They merged in 1920 under the name Luxemburger Berg- und Metallindustriearbeiterverband (LBMIAV).

1917 (May 31-June 9) strike against the continuing deterioration of living conditions; intervention by German occupation forces.

1918 creation of the Confédération Luxembourgeoise du Travail (CLT) with the aim of bringing together workers, employees and civil servants in a single trade union. The project failed and the CLT, like its predecessor, the Cartel syndical, and like its successors, the Union Luxembourgeoise des Fédérations Syndicales (ULFS), then the Confédération Générale du Travail du Luxembourg (CGT) after the Second World War, finally headed only the free trade unions.

1918 introduction of the eight-hour day (grand-ducal decree of 14 December)

1919 (April 26) grand-ducal decree instituting factory councils

1921 the workers close to the Catholic organizations leave the LBMIAV and found the Lëtzebuerger Chrëschtleche Gewerkschaftsbond (LCGB).

1921 big strike in March following massive lay-offs in Differdange, Rodange and Steinfort: failure after three weeks and interventions by Luxembourg and French police forces; suppression of factory councils after factory occupations by the strikers (re-established in 1925).

1924 (April 24) law creating professional chambers of an advisory nature, including the Chamber of Labour and the Chamber of Private Employees

1936 (January 12) Demonstration organized by the LBMIAV and the LCGB where 40,000 workers demanded better wages and a law on collective contracts: establishment of a National Labor Council, composed of equal numbers of workers and charged with examining labor disputes and finding a negotiated solution, and the first collective contracts in heavy industry; guarantee of trade union freedoms.

1937 referendum and rejection of the “Law for the Defence of the Political and Social Order” (“Maulkorbgesetz”)

1944 foundation of the Lëtzebuerger Arbechter-Verband (LAV), successor of the LBMIAV. In 1945 a conflict between communists and socialists leads to the creation of the Fräie Lëtzebuerger Arbechterverband (FLA), a union close to the communists.

1944 (December 30) grand-ducal decree introducing the minimum social wage, automatically adapted to the cost of living as of 1951.

1946 introduction of May 1st as a legal holiday from May 1st 1946 onwards

1947 (October 20) law introducing family and birth allowance

1948 (May 21) Inclusion of concepts such as the right to work, social security, health protection, workers’ rest and the guarantee of trade union freedoms in the revised Constitution.

1953 (4 February) 24-hour strike in the steel industry for the reduction of working hours from 56 to 48 hours per week without loss of pay in companies with continuous fire (48-hour week in factories with 67% wage compensation from 1 January 1955)

1955 (April 18-25) miners strike for the 40-hour week and a guaranteed weekly wage (44-hour week introduced in mines and factories in 1956 with the introduction of 16 additional rest days in addition to the 10 statutory public holidays).

1958 national demonstration (organized jointly by the LCGB and LAV) bringing together 20,000 workers from the steel and mining industries for a new collective contract. In 1959, the arbitration of Swiss professor Henri Rieben, a close collaborator of Jean Monnet, leads to a wage increase of 1 franc per hour (“Rieben franc”) and avoids a new strike.

1965 (June 12) Act on collective agreements: obligation to negotiate, national representativeness, sliding scale of wages

1966 the FLA dissolved and its members joined the LAV.

1966 (March 21) law establishing the Economic and Social Council, a consultative body that brings together the heads of employers’ federations, the main trade unions and government experts.

1970 (December 9) law providing for the gradual reduction of the working hours of blue-collar workers from 48 to 40 hours per week until January 1, 1975 (law of November 12, 1971 for employees)

1973 (9 October) demonstration and general strike of the LAV, a call followed by about 30,000 workers, with a catalog of 14 demands (with emphasis on areas such as health, education, reform of social institutions, housing).

1974 (May 6) law establishing joint committees in companies and the organization of employee representation in public limited companies

1975 introduction of the fifth week of paid vacations (abandonment of the age clause); generalization of the sliding scale of wages and salaries

1977 (Dec. 24) law establishing a Tripartite Coordinating Committee, bringing together representatives of employers, representative unions and the government with a view to restoring full employment; introduction of early retirement for steel industry personnel; extraordinary works; creation of an anti-crisis division (DAC)

1979 foundation of the Onofhängege Gewerkschaftsbond Lëtzebuerg (OGBL). It was born from a proposal to merge all the trade unions in Luxembourg (single trade union), an idea defended by the LAV since the 1960s. Despite promising negotiations in the autumn of 1978, the single union project failed. Only the LAV and the FGIL joined the new confederation. However, the vast majority of the leaders of the FEP and part of the ALEBA leadership also joined the ranks of the OGBL, which quickly became the 1st union in the country.

1982 CGT demonstration of March 27 and general strike of April 5 (“D’Fangeren ewech vum Index”) against the modifications of the sliding scale mechanism after the devaluation of the Belgian franc on February 20, 1982

1984 (April 15) OGBL demonstration on the Place d’Armes in Luxembourg to protest against the government’s plan to cancel 28 billion of State debts to pension funds (“Renteklau”)

1990 following a mobilization in favor of a general strike announced for October 9, the OGBL reached an agreement with the government on September 20, which provided for several significant improvements in pensions.

1992 (February 24) the National Committee of the OGBL decides on a new mobilization in favor of a general strike, planned for April 24, to oppose the government’s health insurance reform project. As a result of union pressure, the government withdrew its initial project.

1993 (July 13) law on professional chambers: the right to vote in social elections is finally granted to non-Luxemburgers.

1998 (June 19) law introducing a dependency insurance aimed at ensuring optimal care for dependent persons at home in their family environment

1999 (February 12) Act concerning the implementation of the National Action Plan for Employment 1998 (“NAP”) and establishing parental leave (6 months per child) and family leave (two days per child per year)

2001 (January 14) extraordinary conference of the ACAL (Association professionnelle et de secours mutuel des conducteurs d’automobiles du Luxembourg), which decides to leave the FNCTTFEL and join the OGBL. The OGBL exceeds the threshold of 50,000 members.

2001 (July 18) Conclusion of the round table discussions on pensions (“Rentendësch”). The OGBL obtains considerable increases

2003 (October 9) integration of FEP-FIT and Cadres into the OGBL

2004 (June 30) law on collective labor relations, which defines union representativeness in a sector and introduces the legal basis for agreements on cross-industry social dialogue and for negotiating framework agreements

2005 last traditional celebration of May 1st under the CGT banner. From 2006, the parade is replaced by a “Labour and Cultural Festival” at the Centre Culturel de Rencontre Abbaye de Neumünster. It is preceded by a meeting of the enlarged National Committee, during which the president develops the socio-political program of the OGBL.

2005 (December 9) the FLTL (Fédération Luxembourgeoise des Travailleurs du Livre), founded in 1864 under the name Association typographique/Buchdruckerverein, joins the OGBL.

2008 (May 13) law establishing the single statute. On January 1, 2009, the former Chambre de Travail and Chambre des Employés privés merged to form the Chambre des Salariés. Similarly, the existing health insurance funds are dissolved to merge into the National Health Fund. Single staff delegations in companies; principle of a single collective labour agreement (to be implemented during a transitional period from 2009 to 2013), upward harmonization of overtime provisions, severance pay and sick pay.

2009 (May 16) large national trade union demonstration “Together against any social dismantling” gathering more than 30,000 participants in the context of the economic and financial crisis that occurred in 2008

2010 (April 12) Failure of tripartite negotiations following the publication of austerity measures proposed by Finance Minister Luc Frieden. Bipartite government-labour agreement reached on September 29; further modulation of the index for 2011 and then, after the failure of the fall 2011 tripartite, in 2012 and 2013. Return to normal wage indexation in 2014.

2010 (September 16) inter-union demonstration at Place Clairefontaine against discrimination of frontier workers in terms of family allowances and scholarships

2012 (December 21) law reforming pension insurance. Despite trade union opposition, the pension system is degraded by this reform, with a gradual decrease in the amount of the minimum personal pension over a period of 40 years. Employees are encouraged to extend their active career to maintain their pension level and the end-of-year allowance is linked to the financial situation of the pension fund.

2014 (November 28) agreement between the government and nationally representative unions, which mitigates the effects of the new austerity package, the government’s so-called “future package”. Subsequently, in 2015 and 2016, the OGBL is campaigning for a “social package” in order to obtain compensation for all the losses in purchasing power incurred as a result of the 2008 crisis.

2015 (July 23) law reforming social dialogue within companies: joint committees are abolished; credit hours, information rights and protection against dismissal for employee representatives are strengthened.

2016 (March 21) Failure of the government’s negotiations with business and labor for a reform of the “organization of working hours” section of the PAN Law. Subsequently, the Minister of Labor submitted a bill that provided for an extension of the reference periods to a maximum of four months, but with compensation in the form of additional days off. The bill was rejected by the employers, but approved by the unions as an acceptable compromise.

2016 (June 4) health and social sector event with more than 9,000 participants for a career enhancement and the parallel evolution of the two sector-based collective agreements concluded in the civil service.

2017 (June 16-21): After decades, the renewal of the FHL and SAS collective bargaining agreements will bring the careers of employees in the health and care sector into line with those of the civil service. A strike can be avoided at the last minute

2018 (6-16.6.): In the nursing homes “An de Wisen”/Bettembourg, “Parcs du 3e âge”/Bertrange and “Zitha Senior”/Luxembourg and Pétange, the employees covered by the FHL collective agreement go on strike because the employers of these institutions refuse to implement the revaluation provided for in the FHL agreement; the longest strike in Luxembourg for 23 years. In the end, the OGBL was successful on all fronts.

2020 (1 July): The provisional integration of the FNCTTFEL-Landesverband into the OGBL is implemented and the railway union FNCTTFEL-Landesverband becomes the 16th professional union of the OGBL. This historic decision was adopted by a large majority at the respective congresses of the OGBL and the Landesverband in December 2019.