Cargolux Board

Today, after more than one year of intense negotiations, management and the unions signed two new collective work agreements. The first agreement covers the time between December 1^st, 2018 and December 31^st, 2019 and the second will become effective as of January 1^st, 2020 until end of December 2022.

CWA 2018 – 2019
This CWA includes a salary increase of 1% as from 01 August 2019 as well as the adjustment of time units and recategorization of pilots who were hired under the so-called ‘B-Scale’. This in addition to further improvements concerning off-days, vacation entitlement and career progression that will become effective on 01 January 2020 will de facto eliminate the ‘B-Scale’ and bring all pilots to a similar level, constituting one of the major achievements in the negotiations.

Click on the image below or this link to download the CWA 2018-2019.

Due to the short duration of this CWA – it will be applicable only until end of December 2019 – we do not intent to provide our members with an electronic version of this ‘bridge’ CWA.

CWA 2020 – 2022
The second CWA lasting for 3 years, incorporates additional major improvements like e.g. the same amount of off-days, vacation entitlement and career progression for all pilots eliminating the so-called “B-Scale”, an amended off-day scheme offering more days off, an increased number of fixed off days including stricter rules in regard to the rostering and changing of off days and limitations concerning “back-to-back” operations. All these elements aim to improve our work-life balance and increased off-day stability.

Latest by 01 July 2020, the new flight time limitations will come into effect. By reducing the maximum flight duty periods especially during the most critical times of the day for a standard crew and the implementation of enhanced limitations for augmented crew operation, fatigue and potential health issues will be addressed, which was one of the major concerns after EASA FTL were introduced in early 2016.

In addition to the above pilots will receive a 2% salary increase in August 2021, followed by another 1% in August 2022. In conjunction with the mandatory index increase in Luxembourg this constitutes a noticeable improvement of financial compensation.

Click on the image below or this link to download the CWA 2020-2022.

We plan to provide our members with an electronic version of this CWA in the next few weeks.

The result of the ratification however indicated that there is a deep-rooted mistrust amongst the pilot community regarding the implementation of some of the agreement’s articles as intended by management and unions. The proper application of the CWA in the daily operation will hopefully regain some of the lost trust and enable a productive cooperation in the future, making Cargolux again the employer of choice.

The results of the ratification process of the last CWA proposal are now confirmed.

96% of our members voted with 64% accepting the package. Based on this result, the LCGB together with the OGBL will now proceed and sign both CWAs. One covering the period from 1^stDecember 2018 until 31^stDecember 2019 and a second one for the period from 1^stJanuary 2020 until 31^stDecember 2022.

All the monetary adjustments will come into effect as from 1^stAugust 2019 onwards. As of 1^stJanuary 2020, the remaining elements except the flight time limitations will be effective. To give the company enough time to hire the required number of pilots, these new provisions will be implemented latest by 1^stJuly 2020.

The improvements in the new CWA would not have been possible without the great support and unity of our members. A unity that should be maintained in the future to ensure a strong pilot representation in Cargolux.

Some of our members feel that the new CWA package is not as good as it should be, but please bear in mind that it contains improvements and adjustments in all priority areas where a vast majority of our members have asked for and we will ensure that the new CWA is implemented in day to day business as intended.

Although the majority accepted the CWA package, we also received feedback from those who rejected it. It clearly reflects the mistrust in management that origins in the events of the last negotiations in 2015 and how the pilot community was treated since then. The proper application of the CWA in our daily operation will hopefully regain some of the lost trust and enable a productive cooperation.

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Your exceptional participation and clear rejection vote has had a tremendous impact!

Within hours following the results being revealed to management several wheels started turning. Which resulted in an urgent meeting being requested by the CEO. Since yesterday significant improvements have been offered. We are in the process of preparing a revised proposal for your review in the next days.

A new ratification vote is being organized very shortly.

The results are now confirmed, and the majority has spoken – the proposal from management has been decisively REJECTED by a majority of our members!

99,3% of all our members voted with 92% rejecting management’s ‘final’ proposal. That is a clear signal that the vast majority of our members is willing to go for industrial action, which does not leave any doubts.

When these results are even combined with all LCGB members (including ground staff) the union’s statutory requirements are still surpassed. 95% of all eligible LCGB members voted and 83% of the LCGB members have rejected the proposal.

Today the LCGB union secretary has sent a letter to the national conciliation office (ONC) requesting non-conciliation and Cargolux management has been informed of the ratification results.

Your negotiation team tried to convince management in the last meeting on July 11^th, that their proposal might not pass without certain improvements, but they simply responded that they would “take that risk”. Now it is on their shoulders to assume the load from here.

According to your valued input, the main reasons given for rejecting managements proposal were precisely what the negotiation team forewarned on and they center on five main points:

Cargolux Italia
Unacceptable not to have the cap at 4 aircraft

‘B-scale’ adjustments
No horizontal move when upgraded to Captain and only one TU reduction

Flight Time Limitations
‘How to augment’ – clear rules to avoid excessive numbers of multiple sector FDPs with augmented crews.

Off- Day scheme
No real improvement and possible 11 rather than 12 days off per month and a clear desire for more immovable blocks.

Back-to-back
Must be planned as part of a rotation and a rotation should never be changed to include a back-to-back after departing home base.

We can congratulate everyone for an unprecedented participation where we even have 69 new members join the ALPL since beginning of July so their vote could count. We also would like to thank everyone for their patience during the voting process.

We will keep you informed of any developments.

Yesterday we published management’s ‘final’ proposal which is the result of an extensive negotiation process where the LCGB negotiation team did its upmost to deliver on the claims ALPL members were demanding. As management refuses to move from their current position, it is now time for every member to decide for themselves if this package is acceptable or not.

Should the proposal be found acceptable by our members, then work will begin preparing the actual CWA text for signing. If the proposal is rejected, the Union will request non-conciliation from the ONC and industrial action will be organized.

Please be aware that a ‘reject’ vote is simultaneously a vote for strike. To move down this path, LCGB statutes require that at least 90% of the members participate in voting and 75% must indicate that they reject the proposal. For the pilots, all ALPL members are automatically part of the LCGB and only ALPL members can vote.

You will receive an invitation to the online vote (done via SurveyMonkey) by a separate email shortly.

If your choice in this vote is to reject the package you will be asked to indicate which two points you find unacceptable before submitting your vote. This will give the Union some indication which parts must improve should the pressure of an imminent strike compel management to amend their offer. You must know that at this stage any desired improvements to the package would only be possible through industrial action!

As the ALPL Board, we do not recommend how to vote either way but do feel it is important to point out in neutral fashion the pros and cons to management’s ‘final’  proposal. Please click here to read about these pros and cons.

If you have any questions please send us an email at cvboard@alpl.lu or check the members‘ forum  on the ALPL website, where you will find answers to questions raised by our members.

We would like to provide you with a very brief update following a CWA meeting today with management and to clarify the next steps. Management will not make any further moves from their current position believing their proposed package is generous enough.

This means the ALPL Board will present to its members in the next days details of this package and the factual pros and cons to what management is offering. Each member must then decide to accept or reject the offer.

It is important to be clear even now what your vote will trigger: an ‘accept’ is self-explanatory, a ‘reject’ vote means that the LCGB will request non-conciliation from the ONC and organize industrial action. If a strike should occur, the negotiation team will remain prepared to meet with management until an acceptable package is ratified.