As soon as the formation of the new government coalition between the CSV and the DP was announced, the OGBL warned of difficult times ahead, given the electoral platforms of these two parties. The coalition agreement finally reached between the Conservatives and the Liberals only confirmed the OGBL’s fears. Although the government’s program contains some positive elements, it remains vague on many issues and, above all, includes outright attacks on the areas that most affect the interests of employees, pensioners and their families.

Index

While the new government affirms that “the indexation system will be maintained in its current form,” it calls it into question in the very next sentence, announcing that a tripartite meeting will be convened if more than one indexation tranche is due in the course of a year. And the government certainly has no intention of convening a tripartite meeting to propose improvements, such as the payment of an early tranche. No, what is on the horizon are new attempts at manipulation. The OGBL will attend these tripartite meetings, but with a clear message: Hands off the index!

Pensions

Despite the fact that the pension system’s reserves stand at 23.5 billion euros and that insured persons have already suffered heavy losses as a result of the 2012 reform, the government program states that the current contribution rate will be “insufficient to pay annual pensions from 2027”. While the electoral programs were rather silent on this issue, it is now clear that the government is already preparing for further deterioration, even though it says it hopes to find a “consensus” with “civil society” on the matter. What is certain is that the OGBL will not be part of any “consensus” aimed at deteriorating the pension system, either for current or future pensioners. On the contrary, improvements are needed.

Working Time

Under the guise of promoting a better work-life balance, the government is announcing fundamental reforms that risk producing exactly the opposite: excessive flexibility, with employees having to be available at all times at the will of their employer. For example, it has been announced that restrictions on Sunday work will be abolished and even weekly rest periods will be reviewed. Even worse, the coalition agreement directly attacks the negotiation rights of the trade unions by providing for the automatic annualization of working time. Such flexible forms of work are possible today, but only within the framework of collective agreements (i.e. with compensation). And they must remain so. The OGBL is opposed to the replacement of collective agreements by company agreements without the involvement of trade unions. What is needed is a reduction of working time, not workers on call 24 hours a day.

Taxation

One of the few positive points in the coalition agreement is the adjustment of the tax scales on January 1, 2024, which will now apply to 4 index tranches instead of the 2.5 tranches originally planned. But despite the nice election promises, there are no plans to make this automatic in the future. And the government’s program makes no provision for introducing greater tax justice. On the contrary. It explicitly rejects raising taxes on high incomes, very large fortunes and inheritances. It announces an overall reduction in taxes on corporate profits, despite the fact that the previous government had already reduced them twice. By comparison, the announcements on possible tax relief for small and middle incomes, as well as for class 1a, remain very vague. It’s a tax program that will only deepen social inequalities. The OGBL will oppose it with all its strength.

Housing

Like the new government’s tax program, the measures announced to tackle the ongoing housing crisis are nothing more than gifts to real estate developers and investors. Instruments that have clearly failed to improve access to housing in the past (such as accelerated depreciation) are even being strengthened. Yet scientific studies have shown that such measures have only served to exacerbate inequalities in access to housing. With a policy that focuses solely on the housing supply side of the market, including the neglect of environmental considerations, the government is making it clear that its primary concern is to increase the profit margins of real estate developers. The OGBL is committed to a different policy – one that puts access to housing first.

Health and Social Security

With regard to health insurance, the government’s program already announces its intention to “clean up … the CNS’s health care missions”. However, if there were an imbalance in the CNS budget, the OGBL would not accept any deterioration in benefits as a result. This would jeopardize our solidarity-based system and ultimately lead to a two-tier healthcare system where only the richest could afford treatment. The OGBL is also opposed to the announced revision of the law on ambulatory care with the aim of privatizing the use of so-called heavy equipment, which would allow private actors to enrich themselves at the expense of our health system. Finally, the OGBL stresses the need to maintain the principle of the free choice of the payer within the CNS.

And the austerity tomorrow?

What the government program does not provide for is a policy of austerity. But … it provides for tax cuts, a plethora of subsidies and tax exemptions for companies, high public investment, while at the same time excluding any increase in public debt. The program does not include any new revenues for the state and excludes from the start any measures that would further tax the very high income earners and the very rich. This equation does not work, and is reminiscent of the austerity policies implemented in the period following the 2008 financial crisis. Without new revenues and additional debt, the government will have no choice but to attack public expenses. The coalition program does not mention this, but the logical consequence of the neoliberal program presented by the CSV/DP coalition will be to implement a policy of austerity.

It’s not too late to oppose this policy. For the moment, these are only declarations of intent, not concrete draft laws.

To oppose the announced attacks on our benefits, to avoid a policy of austerity, we need a strong opposition. We need a strong trade union. And only the OGBL, Luxembourg’s No. 1 union, is up to the challenge. It needs the support of all employees and pensioners.

Strengthen the union, strengthen the OGBL by voting for List 2, the OGBL list, in the Chamber of Employees (Chambre de Salariés – CSL) elections and in your company elections.

On November 30, the professional syndicates of the OGBL invited their delegates, militants and candidates from all sectors of the economy to a meeting to discuss working hours, job security and wage policies. In short, the heart of the OGBL’s daily work in the companies. The meeting took place at the Encore discotheque in Luxembourg.

In her introduction, OGBL President Nora Back explained the title of the meeting. “The economy is us,” she emphasized, “us, the employees in all socio-economic sectors who provide the work, who produce the wealth. That’s the economy. Without us, this added value cannot be produced. Without us, companies can’t function”. A message addressed to employers as well as to the new government.

The OGBL president also addressed the Ampacet workers present in the room, who had gone on strike a few days earlier, condemning the unacceptable attitude of their employer, who was trampling on the Luxembourg social model.

She went on to say that the next five years are likely to be difficult for all workers in Luxembourg, given the plans (or not) of the new government. The OGBL will of course give the new government a chance and discuss things with it, but will under no circumstances accept measures that go against the interests of the workers.

Participants were then able to “see and hear what it means in concrete terms for the OGBL to implement a wage policy,” as Isabel Scott, deputy central secretary of the OGBL and moderator of the evening, summed up. The program included three thematic blocks, combining presentations by central secretaries and testimonies by OGBL delegates from a wide range of sectors: Armand Klamm (Robert Schuman Hospitals), José Da Costa (Voyages Emile Weber), Jacques Adam (Tarkett), Calogero Galletta (Caceis Bank), Maria Das Dores (Nettoservice) and Loïc Duprel (Commune de Schifflange).

Working time

The first topic of the meeting was working time. A very complex issue, as Jean-Luc De Matteis, member of the OGBL Executive Board, reminded us: “It is not only a question of how long I work, whether today, this week, this month or this year? It’s also a question of when do I work? How do I work? When am I free? When am I off? And many other facets. For example, the question of reduced working hours or the reference period. All these questions are regularly discussed in collective bargaining between unions and employers.

And every situation is different. What is good for employees in one company or sector may not be good for others. It is precisely the framework of collective bargaining that makes it possible to find tailor-made compromises, with compensation for employees when their jobs require special efforts. One example is health care staff, who may have an annual reference period but benefit from a reduction in their working hours with continued pay.

In other sectors, however, an annual reference period would be a very bad omen. Not to mention the fact that such a measure would sabotage what can be expected from the outcome of collective bargaining. These are two reasons why the OGBL is categorically opposed to its generalization, as envisaged in the new government’s program, which echoes an old employers’ demand that the OGBL has always successfully resisted. “Until today, the OGBL has been the guarantor of good working hours. And we’ll continue to fight against any deterioration,” assures Jean-Luc De Matteis.

Job security

The second topic of the evening was the job protection plan (plan de maintien dans l’emploi – PME). As Frédéric Krier, also a member of the OGBL Executive Board, pointed out, this important instrument “did not appear out of nowhere” but was introduced in 2006 at the insistence of the OGBL at a time when redundancy plans were multiplying.

Frédéric Krier does not hide the fact that the current law, although a step forward when it was introduced, has a number of shortcomings that need to be addressed. However, he is pleased to note that in recent years the OGBL has succeeded in reversing a long-standing trend by forcing a number of companies, particularly in industry, to negotiate job protection plans instead of redundancy schemes already announced and calculated by management. This has saved hundreds of threatened jobs.

However, the OGBL would like to see the PME instrument finally strengthened to further safeguard jobs in Luxembourg. In addition to the introduction of an obligation for employers to negotiate a job protection plan at the request of the unions, the possibility of referring the matter to the National Conciliation Office if no agreement is reached with the employer, and the strengthening of ITM controls to ensure the implementation of measures concluded within the framework of such a PME, a preventive dimension should also be introduced into this instrument.

“This is why we are proposing, also in the context of the ecological transition and the digital transformation, to reform the instrument of the job protection plan in order to identify in advance, in co-management within the company with the employee delegation, which jobs the company will need in the future, which profiles it will need, and which jobs are at risk and likely to disappear. Together, we can now define training or other measures, such as early retirement, to safeguard jobs in advance,” concludes Frédéric Krier. According to the OGBL, this reformed instrument should also be linked to a “social balance sheet” of the company, a kind of social audit that all companies should have to carry out every year in consultation with their delegations.

Offensive wage policy… and strike action

Finally, the third topic of the meeting: the wage policy pursued by the OGBL to improve the wage conditions of employees in the various sectors. Initially, David Angel, also a member of the OGBL Executive Board, had planned to explain how the three key elements of this wage policy – the index, the minimum social wage and collective agreements – fit together, and why when one of them is attacked, the whole edifice comes under attack. “I wanted to talk to you about what is at the heart of our union’s commitment: our wage policy. How we improve the living and working conditions of our members and workers in general every day through our collective agreements! But, dear colleagues, what can I tell you? The heart of our trade union commitment, our raison d’être as a trade union, is currently taking place in Dudelange, in the industrial zone in front of the Ampacet company,” he points out.

“The strike, the collective decision to refuse to work, is the highest form of union action. It is our ultimate and most powerful weapon as workers,” the trade unionist stressed, underlining the importance of the current social conflict at Ampacet. Indeed, many employers are closely watching the outcome of this dispute to learn from it. “If we let them, they’ll take away everything we’ve acquired over decades”.

David Angel then extended his comments to other threats to wage conditions, in particular the index, which is one of the pillars of wage formation in the country and which has been under constant attack by successive governments and, above all, employers. In this context, he pointed out that any manipulation or deterioration of the index would also have a direct negative impact on the evolution of the minimum social wage.

Turning to the program of the new coalition, he notes that the next attacks are already pre-programmed, not only on the index, but also on the government’s proposal that employees and employers should be able to negotiate directly with each other… without the intervention of the trade unions. He concludes: “On my own as an employee, I can’t negotiate as an equal with my boss, but if I’m in a union and I negotiate with my union and its 75,000 members that are behind my back, then yes, we’re finally discussing as equals”.

The article was published in the December edition of Aktuell.

The Economic and Social Council (Conseil économique et social – CES) has just published an opinion on energy transition. The opinion is the result of a joint initiative by the social partners, who wished to share with policymakers their analyses and recommendations on the profound structural changes taking place in energy production and consumption patterns.

For the members of the CES, we must take decisive action against climate change. This means finding alternatives to fossil fuels and replacing them with decarbonized energy sources. This ongoing process ultimately affects almost all human activities.

The CES analyzes and comments on the different types of instruments that can be used to achieve a successful ecological transition: awareness-raising to bring about voluntary changes in behavior, fiscal measures, subsidies, standards, price signals, bans, and so on.

The CES discusses whether these should be voluntary or mandatory, without settling the issue, and believes that the right balance needs to be struck between incentives and prohibitions. An approach based solely on bans risks undermining public acceptance of climate measures. At the same time, an approach based on voluntarism alone ultimately favors those with higher incomes, for whom the price effect of environmental taxes can easily be ignored, while citizens with lower incomes bear the full brunt of these taxes and often don’t even have the opportunity to reduce their carbon footprint for financial reasons.

At the same time, the CES encourages investment in research, development and technological innovation. Without technological progress, the goals of the European Green Deal in particular will be unattainable.

The CES also calls for a reform of the European electricity market to speed up the introduction of decarbonised electricity production at an acceptable price, rather than having to pay an overpriced energy bill for a long time. It discusses dynamic pricing models (different tariffs according to demand, depending on the time of day, in order to avoid bottlenecks), while calling for a social dimension not to be excluded, e.g. in the form of the provision of a moderately priced baseline or even a guaranteed minimum subsistence level.

The CES then analyzes the challenges and opportunities for the various sectors of the Luxembourg economy (agriculture and forestry, crafts, industry, banking, retail trade, road transport of persons and goods).

Another section looks at the impact on employment and vocational training. The CES stresses that the transition to a low-carbon economy will inevitably affect all sectors of the economy. We need to prepare now for the coming changes by adapting guidance and initial training to the new profiles associated with the energy transition (“green jobs”). We also need to identify today the jobs that are likely to disappear and give the employees concerned the opportunity to retrain by guaranteeing access to continuous vocational training.

However, the CES notes that the impact of the energy transition on employment has barely been addressed in national discussions on successive climate plans. In the view of the CES, it is imperative to integrate the employment and training dimension into national climate policies. It must be the subject of negotiation and agreement between the social partners at national, sectoral and company level.

Next, the CES turns its attention to the living environment, and in particular to the essential aspects of housing and mobility.

As long as fiscal incentives, standards and regulations promote measures that are accessible and affordable for all citizens, acceptance should not be compromised.

With regard to housing, the CES recommends, among other things, reintroducing the possibility of interest-free climate loans for low-income households, or providing for full or partial pre-financing of renovation measures for low-income households (“climate third-party payment”), coupled with rapid or even immediate payment of the sums advanced by the State to the companies in charge of the work.

With regard to mobility, the CES advocates the continued development of public transport, in particular by maintaining a high level of investment in railways. The trend in freight transport should be reversed, with rail taking precedence over road transport.

To promote access to alternatives to conventional fuels, the ESC advocates in particular investment in the development of sustainable alternative fuels, the systematic installation of a sufficient number of charging points for electric cars in residential areas, and the introduction of “social leasing” with long-term contracts to help low-income households electrify their personal mobility.

In conclusion, the CES believes that the energy transition cannot be done “against” people. As long as tax incentives, standards and regulations promote measures that are accessible and affordable for all citizens, acceptance should not be compromised. Government intervention must therefore be designed to offset some of the additional costs of the transition at the household level through instruments of social redistribution.

Article published in the December edition of Aktuell

No, the OGBL has not become radicalized. It’s the times we live in that have become radicalized. We’re facing headwinds from both politics and employers. And the OGBL is exactly where it should be as a trade union: resisting and defending the rights of employees and their families.

And these rights are currently under violent attack at a particular company: Ampacet…

The management here unilaterally declared the failure of the conciliation procedure and thus terminated the collective agreement in force. This is an unprecedented event in Luxembourg’s social history: an employer itself denouncing the social truce that goes hand in hand with the validity of the collective agreement! This is nothing less than a frontal attack on the Luxembourg social model!

In the case of Ampacet, we’re not just talking about a strike in a small industrial company, but about an issue of national importance! We have to make sure that the example of Ampacet does not become a precedent for other companies.

That’s why giving in at Ampacet is out of the question. The Ampacet strikers, who have been braving rain, snow, frost and gusts of wind for more than two weeks, are demonstrating every day that they will not give up. The OGBL, the whole OGBL, stands with them every day with the same determination. We will continue to fight until the employer finally gives in!

On the national political level, the first attacks are also pre-programmed. It didn’t take long for the new Minister of Health and Social Security to set the tone: strengthening private supplementary pensions at the expense of the collectivity, which means calling into question our public pension system based on solidarity!

These will be difficult times. The coalition’s program is clear, and it goes beyond the issue of pensions!

Capital will be further strengthened and education, health and pensions will be left to the free market. The environment will not be a priority, and the housing crisis will continue to rage. Employers, for their part, want to shape our private lives by making working hours more flexible. And above all, employees and pensioners will have to tighten their belts.

At a time when a liberal-conservative government is speaking the same language as the employers’ organizations, and when several crises are weighing on workers and their families, it has become essential to strengthen the OGBL.

We must defend our achievements, protect and develop our labor laws and guarantee our pensions in order to secure and improve the general situation of employees, pensioners and their families.

That’s why we need a strong OGBL.

It’s up to all of us to make the next social elections a show of strength for workers and pensioners! This is not just another election, but an opportunity to put our interests at the top of the agenda.

This time we’ll all be able to vote. And we should make use of this right, because with more than 600,000 voters, the election of the Chamber of Employees is the largest democratic election in Luxembourg. It’s an opportunity to actively influence the course of events.

Together we are strong, and only together can we make a real change. No false promises, just strong action.

Nora Back, OGBL President

The OGBL is outraged and strongly condemns the recent decision of the new Minister of Home Affairs, Léon Gloden, to allow the City of Luxembourg to ban begging on a certain number of streets in the capital as of December 15, 2023.

The OGBL would first like to point out that, as the former Minister of Home Affairs pointed out when she refused to grant the same authorization to the City of Luxembourg a few months ago, there is no objective reason in itself to justify such a ban.

And just when the new government announced a few weeks ago that it would make the fight against poverty one of the top priorities of its mandate, the OGBL notes with horror that one of the first enforceable acts adopted by the new liberal-conservative coalition is precisely to stigmatize, harass and, where appropriate, punish the main victims of poverty.

The OGBL calls on the government to reverse its decision and quickly present an action plan to combat poverty.

Poverty must be fought! And you certainly can’t fight poverty by attacking those who are its first victims.

 

OGBL press release
December 14, 2023

 

On Wednesday 13 December, representatives of the OGBL and déi gréng met to discuss the ongoing strike at the Ampacet company in Dudelange.

During the meeting, déi gréng and the OGBL expressed their solidarity with the strikers at Ampacet and reiterated their commitment to equal social dialogue. Respect for the Luxembourg model of social dialogue remains the cornerstone for ensuring social peace and strong workers’ rights today and in the future.

In view of the current situation at Ampacet, the representatives of déi gréng and the OGBL appeal to the Minister of Labor to play a mediating role in the sense of a strong social dialogue between the two parties.