Teleworking at Heart of New Civil Service Salary Agreement

On Thursday 4 March 2021, Luxembourg's Minister of the Civil Service, Marc Hansen, and the General Confederation of the Civil Service (Confédération générale de la Fonction publique - CGFP), represented by its Federal President Romain Wolff and Secretary General Steve Heiliger, signed a new salary agreement.

This salary agreement, which runs until 31 December 2022, is influenced by the particular situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the preamble to the agreement, the government underlined that it has been able to count on a competent public service which, in close collaboration with players from the private sector and associations, has done everything to ensure the continuity of the country's activities and thus allow fellow citizens to resort to the support of the state to get through this crisis.

Given the exceptional circumstances, the two signatory parties have agreed on improving working conditions rather than including a structural financial increase in this agreement. They thus agreed that teleworking will be framed in the future by a Grand-Ducal regulation, to be jointly developed by the parties concerned.

The agreement also provides for the harmonisation of the development of the current lower-level careers C and D. There are plans create two single salary / allowance groups C1 and C2, depending on whether or not staff members have completed five years of secondary education or equivalent. This is aimed at eliminating various inconsistencies in the arrangement of lower-level careers and to put in place a more transparent and fair structure. The entry into force of this harmonisation is scheduled for 1 July 2022.

In addition, the parties have agreed to set up a working group which will subject the appraisal system for public officials to an analysis and whose conclusions for possible adaptations will also be drawn by 1 July 2022.

The Minister of the Civil Service, Marc Hansen, stressed that the country can count on competent and committed public officials: “As Minister of the Civil Service, I am extremely satisfied to note that in this difficult period, we were able to carry out together this social dialogue between responsible partners and to conclude an agreement for some 19,700 civil servants and 9,150 state employees. The agreement will guarantee the maintenance of a good social climate within the public service and will allow us to work calmly in order to get through this crisis and to better prepare for the challenges that await us".