Cargolux Board

This is the second in a series of emails about the upcoming social elections, providing you with information about the election of the staff delegation.

These elections will be important for you, as the outcome will directly impact your future working conditions, as the result of the delegation election will have a direct impact on future CWA negotiations! The results of the CWA negotiations in 2019 and in 2023 would not have been possible without the pilots being well represented in the Cargolux Delegation. On the other hand the implementation of a ‘B-Scale’ and Flight Time Limitations based only on legal minimums with the CWA enforced upon the pilots in 2015 was only possible when the pilots were not well represented in the delegation. In order to prevent something similar to the CWA negotiations in 2015, it is important that you also cast your vote in the delegation election.

The Delegation
The staff delegation is the legal body that represents the employees within a company. By law the delegation has to be informed and consulted on issues related to the working conditions of the staff with the intention to improve the working conditions and work safety, to improve on the job training and professional development opportunities and to seek improvements of work-life balance for all staff members, ground staff and pilots alike.

Additionally, to these tasks the result of the most recent delegation election plays an important role in CWA negotiations.

CWA Negotiations
While not being directly involved in the negotiations for a collective work agreement (CWA), the results of the delegation election are used to determine, if a union could sign a CWA alone, even against the will of any other group taking part in the negotiations.

The signing of the 2015 CWA has shown what happens to your terms and conditions if individuals, who were either not pilots or were never elected by the pilots, claim to represent your interests in CWA negotiations. As the result of the delegation election of 2013 had been contested, the previous delegation, elected in 2011, was kept in power until early 2017, when the highest administrative court issued a final ruling that the result of the 2013 election was indeed valid. As the seat distribution in the delegation elected in 2011 was different and the pilots were not adequately represented in the delegation, the labour minister accepted the signing of the present CWA in December 2015 against the clearly expressed will of your representatives. The outcome – unsustainable working conditions, e.g. implementation of the ‘B-Scale’ in 2015 – is still well known to many of you.

What happened in 2015 would most likely not have been possible with a staff delegation at Cargolux in place, which would have ensured that the interests of all employee groups, including those of the pilots, were respected. It took several years and  for us pilots a successful delegation election in 2019 for a CWA to be signed in the same year, which removed the “B-Scale” and led to better working conditions for all pilots. The strong presence of pilots in the Cargolux delegation was also crucial to the outcome of the CWA finally signed in December 2023.

The outcome of the CWA negotiations in 2015 should be reason enough for you to participate in the delegation election. Your participation in this election will be essential. Only if you will cast your votes it will be possible to prevent that a future CWA could again be enforced upon us, like the one signed in 2015. To those 132 colleagues who have joined Cargolux since September 2019: Your present terms and conditions would be much different from the conditions you are presently employed under if your fellow colleagues would not have gone the extra mile to vote in the last two delegation elections.  

The message is clear: VOTE!

Please also take note of the Knowtam “Social Elections 2024”, the additional information available on www.alpl.lu in the section VOTE, the information previously published and all future publications.

More information about the delegation election will be provided soon, including details how to request postal voting, how to cast your votes by postal voting and your candidates. Please stay tuned and remember: Vote!

This is the first in a series of emails we will publish to provide you with information about the election of the staff delegation and the members of the Chambre des salariés (CSL). We will provide you with important information why it will be essential that you cast your votes in both elections. This may include information you may be aware.

We urge you to read the information carefully as it will include additional information you may not be aware of, if you have been employed in 2019 while it will be completely new information for 127 colleagues (which represents more than 20% of all Cargolux pilots) who were hired since the last election in 2019. Please also take note of the first edition of Knowtam “Social Elections 2024”, which has been sent to your home address and is available online following this link. Further information will be available on a dedicated section of www.alpl.lu. No prior login required..

These elections will be important for you, as the outcome will directly impact your future working conditions, as the result of the delegation election will have a direct impact on future CWA negotiations! The results of the CWA negotiations in 2019 and in 2023 would not have been possible without being well represented in the Cargolux Delegation. On the other hand the implementation of a ‘B-Scale’ and Flight Time Limitations based only on legal minimums enforced upon the pilots with the CWA signed in 2015 was only possible when the pilots were not well represented in the Delegation. 

Social Elections – Electing your Staff Delegation and the Chambre des salariés

Every five years, the employees in Luxembourg are called on to participate in the nationwide social elections to elect in two separate elections the members of the staff delegation in their companies and the members of the Chambre des salariés (CSL). The next social elections will take place in March of this year, giving you the opportunity to elect those colleagues who will represent your interests for the next five years.

In this first article we provide information about the CSL, why it will be important that you vote and how you can participate in the CSL election.

The Chambre des salariés
While the election of the staff delegation certainly has a more direct impact on the individual working conditions of an employee, taking part in the election for the CSL is of important as well.

The government must seek the opinion of the CSL on any draft legislation or regulation relating to the country’s economic, financial and social policies. In addition to being involved in the legislative process, the CSL is represented in state advisory bodies, the social insurance institutions and in the labour and social courts. Globalization, digitalization and the continued striving for liberalization are factors that will continue to impact our jobs, making it important that the interests of employees will be continued to be represented in rule making processes in the future.

The CSL Election
In the CSL election you elect the members of the general assembly, which is made up of 60 elected members, divided into 9 professional groups. As a pilot you belong to occupational group 5 “other services” and elect the 14 representatives plus 14 substitutes, in total 28 members, of this group.

Nationally representative union
Additionally, the number of votes a union receives in the election for the CSL determines, if this union is considered to be nationally representative. By participating in the CSL election, you also determine which of the unions are nationally representative.

By law only nationally representative unions can negotiate and sign collective work agreements (CWA) in any company. In order to achieve the status of nationally representative union, a union must have received at least 20% of the votes in the last elections to the CSL. Presently there are only two nationally representative unions, one is the LCGB.

In order to represent your interests in negotiations for a collective work agreement (CWA) as ALPL we need a partner, management must by law accept as negotiating and signatory union in CWA negotiations.

When ALPL was founded more than 50 years ago, the founding fathers of our associations were faced with the question how to make sure, that the association would be able to effectively represent your interest when negotiating with management working conditions for the pilots within the framework of a CWA. After careful considerations and legal advice, it was decided that ALPL needs a strong partner, a nationally representative union to guarantee that our interest will be represented in CWA negotiations.

For many years the LCGB is this strong partner as nationally representative union ALPL cooperates with. The LCGB provided our association the required freedom to represent your interests in CWA negotiations. This means that your ALPL Board is actively involved in CWA negotiations, sitting at the negotiation table representing your interests.

Vote List 1 ‘LCGB’
Based on this fact and the explanations provided above, your ALPL Board recommends that you vote for List 1 the LCGB list by simply marking the circle above List 1 on the ballot with a ‘X’.

Only by maintaining the nationally representative status can we guarantee that our partner union, the LCGB, will be able to negotiate and sign collective work agreements in the future, which will represent our interests.

How do I vote?
The CSL election takes place exclusively by postal voting. The postal voting papers will be mailed to your home address in the coming weeks, without you having to apply for it. The picture below shows a sample of how the envelope you will receive looks.

Information how to mark the ballot, how you have to return the ballot by mail is explained in the Knowtam “Social Elections 2024” and can also be found here. Additionally, we recommend that you watch this short video showing how to mark your ballot and how to return it. 

A “Special Debrief” providing you with important information about the upcoming Delegation Election and the election of the Chamber des salaries (CSL) is available.

We recommend to spend some of your valuable time and to watch this first video of a series of “Special Debrief” screencasts which will be published ahead of the delegation election on March 12th. We recommend that you also visit the section “Social Elections” where you will find more information, including a list of frequently asked questions, which will be updated continuously as more details will become available.

These elections will be important for you, as the outcome will directly impact your future working conditions!