Cargolux

An escalation leading to industrial action in a social conflict never is an easy decision and puts everyone into a stressful and less comfortable position.
 
The Unions acted on the mandate, which they have received from their members and in the end an agreement was reached between the Unions and Management for a new CWA. 
 
It is understandable that in the aftermath of such an extreme situation heated discussions between colleagues who participated in industrial action and those who didn’t can arise. 
 
Let´s not forget that although a vast majority rejected the “final” offer from Management and voted for industrial action, we also have colleagues who did not for various reasons. It was a democratic process, and we should accept that. This is true for every member irrespective of the individual vote!
 
Therefore, as already mentioned in a joint communication from Management and the Delegation, we ask all members to remain respectful to each other.
 
At the same time, we expect from Management to also honor the signed agreement and that employees who participated in the strike will not be penalized for the time taken to support the industrial action and not being discriminated in respect of future promotion possibilities. 
 
Let´s take a deep breath and focus now on reestablishing a favorable social climate within the company.

The Unions LCGB and OGBL have announced a strike at Cargolux after an unsuccessful conciliation procedure at the ONC as per the Luxembourgish Labor Law.

Please click here to download important guidance material!

In case you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact your ALPL Board at cvboard@alpl.lu.

Stay united!

Your ALPL Board

In light of all our efforts and attempts during 27 negotiation meetings, 5 meetings at the ONC and considering that the sixteen-week conciliation deadline stipulated by the Labor Code expired on 14 July 2023, both Unions, LCGB and OGBL, have signed and sent a letter to the ONC today where they decree non-conciliation.
 
This process is in accordance with the mandate obtained during the ratification process in July from all members of both Unions.
 
Although the contracting Unions, LCGB and OGBL, are willing to find solutions in this matter at any time, at present, it must be acknowledged that the negotiations have failed.
 
The letter to the ONC includes a request to proceed in accordance with Article L.164-5, paragraph (4), as well as Article L.164-6 of the Labor Code, which foresees that the secretary of the ONC prepares a non-conciliation report signed by the president.
 
Please standby for further updates and stay united!

Following a meeting with Cargolux management on Wednesday, 30 August 2023, and a meeting at the ONC (Office Nationale de Conciliation) on 31 August 2023, the negotiation committee of both Unions, LCGB and OGBL, regret to conclude that no agreement could be reached.
 
Consequently, the Unions’ negotiation committee will analyse the situation and decide on possible further steps. Until then, management confirmed during the aforementioned ONC meeting that the Company would honour the CWA.
 
We ask you for your patience and support during this time and will provide you with further information as soon as they become available.

The majority has spoken – the proposal from management has been decisively REJECTED by a majority of our members! 

99,02% of our members voted with 85,77% rejecting management’s ‘final’ proposal. That is a clear signal that the vast majority of our members is not accepting management’s proposal indicating that they are willing to take industrial action following an unsuccessful conciliation procedure.

Combined with all LCGB members (including ground staff) the union’s statutory requirements are surpassed, with 91,65% of all eligible LCGB members taking part in the vote and 86,43% of the LCGB members rejecting management’s final proposal.

According to your valued input, the main reason given for rejecting managements proposal is the proposed salary increase of only 3% and the refusal to implement an inflation protection into the CWA.

We congratulate our members again for the extremely high participation rate and we would also like to thank everyone for their patience during the voting process.

The Unions negotiation team will decide on the next steps within the upcoming weeks, and we will inform you accordingly.Again, thank you very much for your support and stay united!

Part 1 (10:00 – 12:00 Local time)

Part 2 (15:00 – 17:00 Local time)

In this edition we will provide an overview of management’s ‘final’ offer after 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. In order to allow you to form an opinion before you will be asked to either “accept” or “reject” management’s ‘final’ offer we urge you to watch this edition of “Debrief”.

A presentation summarising management’s ‘final’ offer can be downloaded here. We recommend that you have this presentation available when watching the video.

More information regarding the electronic ratification (vote) will be provided very soon in a separate email.

Before the ratification process commences, two online Q&A sessions will be scheduled on Monday, 17^th July 2023 to allow members seek clarification and to better understand what is proposed. The exact times and links will be communicated soon.

We would like to provide you with an update following several CWA meetings in the last two weeks and the meeting at the ONC on 7 July 2023 to clarify the next steps.
 
Despite some positive developments in some of the remaining priority claims, e.g. for pilots job security and refleeting, management´s negotiation team obviously still lacks a clear mandate to be in the position to commit to the agreed text that has been negotiated between members of both negotiation teams.

Additionally, management is of the opinion that Cargolux employees are very well remunerated and in combination with the exceptionally high profit share do not deserve a salary increase of more than 2% over the next three years. Furthermore, management firmly rejected any sort of automatic inflation compensation in the CWA in case the present index system in Luxembourg should be amended. 

At the ONC, Union representatives highlighted the urgency to come to an agreement to avoid further escalation. It again became very clear that management´s strategy is to delay any possible agreement and to put the Unions under pressure and even threatens to remove acquired rights in the CWA, e.g. progressive early retirement schemes or time unit increases.
 
The president of the ONC strongly recommended that management presents the status of each claim from their perspective to get clarity where we stand and to provide an improved offer concerning the salary increase in the coming days. She also explicitly mentioned the legal possibility for any of the parties to request a non-conciliation as of 14 July 2023.

Depending on the developments, your ALPL Board will present to you either details of a package and the factual pros and cons to what management is offering or ask you to enable the Unions to increase the pressure by voting for a non-conciliation which is a prerequisite to organize industrial action.
 
Please stay tuned for important updates in the near future!