Cargolux Board

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.

On 4th July 2019 the Unions met with management at the ONC for further last-minute negotiations. Positions were clarified and there will be another meeting next week.

We are hopeful that a package will be presented to all our members for their consideration in the near future.

After several negotiation meetings with management over the past few months (the latest one held on June 13th, 2019) there are still large gaps between the parties’ positions concerning the key claims for both ground staff and pilots.

Since the start of the conciliation process in February this year, we were able to find compromise on some items, but finally had to come to the conclusion that management is either unwilling to close the remaining gaps or does not have a sufficient mandate from the Cargolux shareholders.

The unions will now ask for a meeting with the national conciliation office (ONC) as a final opportunity to reach an agreement or after which point a non-conciliation may be declared after consultation with the members.

At this point, we are still not able to go into details regarding the claims but can touch on the major items where we are stuck:

• Removal of the “B-Scale” (added Time Units, vacation spool-up, career progression including horizontal move when upgraded to Captain)
• Flight time limitations (when to augment and how to augment)
• Cargolux-Italia matter
• Improvement of the off-day scheme with acceptable rules that provide increased roster stability
• Notwithstanding any legal index increase, ground staff has not received a salary increase for 13 years and pilots for 17 years

There will be more information following very soon to let everyone know how to support the continuing efforts of your negotiation teams in order to deliver sustainable CWA conditions.

Both Unions recently published a video providing some information about the ongoing CWA negotiations.

Please click on the image belowto directly viewthis video. This video complements the “Special Debrief” published on 05 June 2019