The ALEBA, LCGB and OGBL unions recently agreed a social plan with Commerzbank for the latter's employees in Luxembourg.
As announced in 2021, Commerzbank will discontinue its operations at its Luxembourg site. This will affect Commerzbank AG Luxembourg Branch (NLU) and Commerzbank Finance and Covered Bond SA (CFCB), whose closure processes will go ahead at different speeds.
Consequently, a total of no fewer than 169 employees (including 159 at NLU) will lose their jobs.
In a statement published on Wednesday 6 April 2022, the ALEBA banking union recalled that Commerzbank is a long-standing player in Luxembourg's financial centre, which will now leave the country. When Commerzbank arrived in Luxembourg in 1969, it was the second German bank to choose the Grand Duchy as the European base for its future international expansion.
Whilst the NLU plans to close by the end of 2024 at the latest, the next steps for the CFCB, which is organisationally and operationally strongly interwoven with NLU, are currently still being worked out. A concrete closure date has not yet been set. In order to include and protect the future of its employees, the CFCB has participated, as a precautionary measure, in the negotiations with ALEBA, the LCGB and the OGBL so that the social plan will also apply to its ten employees in due course.
Together with the staff delegation, ALEBA led the negotiations with the management of Commerzbank, supported by the LCGB and the OGBL. According to ALEBA, the main demands were pushed through "in a transparent and open, if at times tense, exchange". Ultimately, an agreement was reached between all parties in the interests of the employees concerned, with the unions and management having signed a social plan on Tuesday 5 April 2022.
In addition to the statutory and collectively agreed minimum standards, the social partners were able in particular to negotiate "interesting financial compensations" and measures to "facilitate the transition between the end of a career and retirement".
ALEBA added that the unions will "continue to stand by all affected employees to support them throughout the closure process and to monitor the correct implementation of the social plan".
