ALEBA Union Branches Out Beyond Bankers

ALEBA, historically the leading sectoral union for Luxembourg's financial centre, has confirmed its decision to become multisectoral, going from the "Luxembourg Bankers Association" (Association Luxembourgeoise des Employés de Banque et Assurance) to "a union for all" (Association Luxembourgeoise pour tous les Employés ayant Besoin d'Assistance).

The trade union, which currently counts 10,000 members, said in a press release that it is branching out beyond the financial sector to "all areas of activity of the Chambre des Salariés [Chamber of Employees] in order to represent as many employees as possible in the defence of their common interests".

ALEBA President Roberto Mendolia had spoken of his desire to open up the union to other sectors since the beginning of his presidency. On Tuesday 21 March 2023. this became a reality. According to the union, it will maintain its long-term values of "integrity, collaboration, equity, social justice, inclusion and diversity".

ALEBA expressed its wish to continue to "help and support" employees beyond the financial sector. Some of the reasons cited for becoming multisectoral were to help "safeguard democracy" through the union's political "neutrality" and to ensure "strong and fair representation" as a "fundamentally independent, unparalleled dialogue partner".

According to ALEBA, the leading role of its staff representatives is what "distinguishes [ALEBA] from other unions". The press release continued: "The delegates of the new sectors who will join ALEBA will in fact be the leaders of these branches within our union."

One of the union's cited goals was to ensure that employees of all sectors "benefit from a collective agreement". To achieve this, ALEBA has said that it is actively collaborating with lawyers and law firms who will be "one of the linchpins of [its] expansion".

ALEBA has also launched a new website to reflect its new identity.