Luxembourg trade unions LCGB and OGBL have requested an urgent meeting before the National Conciliation Office (ONC) to avoid the escalation of a collective dispute with Cargolux.
As part of the negotiations for a new collective agreement for Cargolux, which have been ongoing for almost a year, the LCGB and OGBL unions filed a complaint with the ONC on 14 February 2019. Following the last round of negotiations on 13 June 2019, the unions have claimed that Cargolux management has still not responded to their main demands.
Consequently, in order to avoid the failure of conciliation and an escalation of the collective dispute after the end of the official 16-week procedure (deadline being 7 June 2019), the LCGB and the OGBL have again requested a meeting with the ONC.
According to the unions, the dispute is based on the employees' concessions during the last collective bargaining following the economic problems of Cargolux at the time. The LCGB and the OGBL clarified that these difficulties were the result of the general economic crisis, previous poor management and the financial burden related to the purchase of new aircraft since 2011. In times of crisis, employees had voluntarily contributed to stabilising the financial situation by accepting what the unions have called a drastic deterioration of their working conditions at the level of the collective agreement in force since 2015, which will expire on 1 August 2019.
With a total profit of more than US $ 300 million for the last two financial years, employees have already demanded an improvement in their working conditions and a return to pre-crisis salary levels. However, the unions have argued that the management of Cargolux aims to freeze working conditions at a lower level without being able to justify this with facts (citing "sustainability" as their main reason).
For the LCGB and the OGBL, the high and permanent workload of employees with long-term health risk, uncertain career development and salary levels unrelated to industry trends are no longer acceptable. The unions have thus demanded what they consider to be sustainable working conditions for all Cargolux employees as soon as possible.
