As you probably have read already we were able to obtain the court victory regarding the ongoing issue of the delegation election contestation by one member of the OGB-L in 2013.
After receiving the judgement by the “Cour Administrative” of Luxembourg we initially thought that this issue was settled. However, by bringing forward bogus claims of alleged irregularities a member of the OGB-L filed yet another contestation almost four years after the deadline for such claims had expired. Unfortunately, the EVP HR, Legal Affairs and Compliance initially encouraged these proceedings by arguing that this contestation might be well founded.
As to be expected the court that had to deal with this latest lawsuit, which was brought forward by the ALPL lawyer, found these claims groundless.
We were able to obtain an injunction against David Massaro ordering him to convene the “newly” elected delegation within 15 days. This injunction is immediately enforceable, meaning that even if Mr. Massaro decided to appeal this decision, this appeal would not have any suspensive effect.
Should Mr. Massaro elect to further unlawfully delay the convention of the rightfully elected delegation we still have the possibility to seize the judge to get him sentenced to a daily fine if he does not comply. In addition, we are also ready to file criminal charges against Mr. Massaro, a step we so far were trying to avoid in order not to complicate the situation further and to give another excuse to delay the proceedings even further.
This important victory, which took almost four years, countless hours of work and substantial legal expenses, shows nevertheless, that fighting for our rights is indeed worth the effort. Although obtaining legal relief in Luxembourg sometimes is painfully slow, this outcome once again shows that patience and persistence will be rewarded in the end.
We would like to thank our members for the continued support, not only with this issue, but also regarding the numerous other battles we are being forced to deal with both at the legal and the political front. In this context, we would like to remind you how important our representation in the staff delegation is. Especially considering the upcoming CWA negotiations and possible new delegation elections your vote is of utmost importance and will have a direct effect on any future CWA.
