Cargolux

We would like to inform you that on 24 March 2023 the meeting at the Office National de Conciliation (ONC) took place. 

After both parties presented their case, the ONC has acknowledged the impasse between the Unions and management. The ONC is now officially involved and has scheduled another meeting at the beginning of May in order to be informed of the progress of the negotiations. 

The law foresees a minimum of 16 weeks of dialogue within the conciliation process. Only if no agreement would be reached within this time, either party could request a “non-conciliation”.

The acknowledged impasse by the ONC is also a clear signal to management to put more effort into finding an agreeable solution and to move away from their stalling tactics. From now on we expect management to sincerely negotiate all our claims and concerns to achieve true social sustainability.

The Unions communicated to management already that they are available to meet for further negotiations to find acceptable solutions until the next ONC meeting in May.

Please find below an update concerning:

• Cybersecurity Testing 
• Company Email
• CWA Negotiations
• Index Increase
• Cargolux Refleeting Survey

Cybersecurity Testing
Since already more than one year the IT Department is sending test emails to employees that consist of false phishing emails, which should be reacted on accordingly.

As all employees are affected by these tests, the issue was taken up by the Delegation and discussed with Senior Management already in the Joint Delegation Meeting back in December 2021. In that meeting a representative of the IT Department stated, that educating and increasing the sensibility of all employees regarding this matter is one of their top priorities. Unfortunately, management was not willing to stop sending test email

Whilst cybersecurity is indeed important and of common interest, we generally disapprove procedures of artificial traps that are being applied. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to prevent management form sending testing emails. We recommend to forward any email you think could be a spam or phishing attempt, preferably via the hoxhunt app available in the MS Outlook app on your company provided iPad or via email to cybersec@cargolux.com.

Company Email
In a recent email from the CV IT Department, employees have been made aware of changes on the procedures all employees must follow if they intend to use private mobile phones to access the company’s IT systems, including accessing your company email account only via the MS Outlook app. 

Due to the communicated restrictions, the associated complexity and therefore possible high error rate we strongly recommend removing the Cargolux email account from all private devices, if you don’t want to use the mandatory MS Outlook app. In case of any doubt it may be best not to use a private device to access Cargolux related websites and applications including your Cargolux email account.

We also recommend using the company provided iPad only for any duty related tasks and to only switch it on when required, e.g. before starting a Duty Period. Please click here to read the iPad policy for more information. 

CWA Negotiations
In our last members update concerning the CWA negotiations we mentioned that both Unions have decided to involve the Office National de Conciliation (ONC) in the current labor negotiations. This move is a step foreseen in the Luxembourgish labor law to solve the impasse and to find an acceptable agreement within a certain time. Additionally, involving the ONC is a legal prerequisite before industrial action could be called by a Union in Luxembourg.

We keep you informed about any further developments. Until the first meeting at the ONC takes place, no further meetings will be held between management and the Unions. The first meeting at the ONC must take place within 6 weeks of sending the request to the ONC. 

Index Increase
The increase of the annual inflation rate in January 2023 triggered a new indexation. Thus, the new sliding scale index of 898,93 points (old index: 877,01 points) came into force on 1 February 2023, resulting in a 2,5% increase in wages, salaries, and pensions. You should have seen that salary increase on your February salary slip. 

The next index increase of 2,5% is foreseen in April 2023. This is the increase that was postponed last year in August following the national tripartite.

Cargolux Refleeting Survey
We would like to thank you for having completed the recent Cargolux Refleeting Survey. More than 90% of our members took part in this survey, which gives us solid data of what will be important for our members in the future refleeting process. 

We are also glad that your input is backing up our arguments and claims that we already brought up in the negotiations in this context, which confirms our initial assessment of what our members expect. We will continue to represent your interests in the negotiations and strive for an agreement that reflects your expectations.

We would like to inform you that the LCGB decided together with the OGBL to take the next step in the CWA negotiations and initiate the conciliation process, as defined in the Luxembourgish labor law. Thus, a letter to the Office National de Conciliation (ONC) was sent by both Unions on 17 February 2023 asking for their involvement in the current labor negotiations in Cargolux. 
 
The basis of this decision lies in the still unresolved disagreement in multiple key claims between the two parties. After being in the 6^th month of negotiations in which we attended 15 meetings we haven’t made any progress except on some smaller claims and clarifications.
 
From the beginning, your negotiation team together with the Unions were fully prepared and willing to engage into serious talks with the aim to reach an agreement in a timely manner. While we are striving for an acceptable solution, we are always keeping in mind the mandate we received from you!
 
At the same time and to avoid any further escalation, we see an urgent necessity for management to stop their stalling-strategy and to give the negotiation-process the priority it deserves. The involvement of the ONC serves the purpose to find acceptable solutions for the identified problems and concerns and to solve the impasse.
 
We will keep you informed about any further development. 

ALPL and Associazione Piloti Cargolux Italia (APCI) are glad to announce the signing of a Cooperation Agreement.

Cargolux Italia has been a hot topic for all Cargolux pilots since it started operation in 2009. 
 
The initial plan from management to operate one aircraft on the Italian AOC with Cargolux pilots under the terms of the Cargolux CWA and to wet lease out further capacity to Cargolux Italia if needed was supported by most Cargolux pilots to enable the Company to benefit from the Italian cargo market.
 
However, the situation changed dramatically in 2014/2015, when Cargolux management used Cargolux Italia as a leverage in the CWA negotiations and transferred three additional aircraft to Italy within nine months.
 
Today Cargolux Italia operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Cargolux Airlines S.A. with centralized commercial sales, operations control, network planning functions and recruitment process, but without a negotiated Collective Work Agreement and under different terms and conditions.
 
For some years ALPL have been in close contact with the colleagues at Cargolux Italia and provided support in their efforts to build up their own representative body. What went on quietly resulted in the foundation of the Associazione Piloti Cargolux Italia (APCI), who got recently engaged in negotiations with the Italian management for the first Cargolux Italia collective work agreement ever.
 
Looking into the future, Cargolux ALPL Divisional Board and APCI Board agree that the tactical separation of both pilot groups by their respective managements must be avoided.
 
Furthermore, it is the common position of the Boards of ALPL and APCI that ultimately all pilots in both airlines shall be employed under the framework of the Luxembourg collective work agreement to ensure commonality of working conditions and provide career perspective for all pilots in the Cargolux Group. In addition to this, it must be ensured that any changes to the allocation of capacity (i.e., number of aircraft) assigned to the respective airlines should have no negative impact to the job security, career progression or employment opportunities for the members of ALPL and APCI.
 
To underscore this position and to send a clear signal to the managements of Cargolux and Cargolux Italia, ALPL and APCI signed a cooperation agreement.
 
Thanks to this agreement any member of APCI in good standing will automatically be recognized as an Associate Member of ALPL in accordance with the terms and conditions of ALPL statutes. They can be declared by ALPL for the purpose of votes or fees relating to ECA/IFALPA affiliation and they could join the insurance scheme of APPN or became members of it. In practice APCI will function similar to current Divisional Bodies in ALPL.
 
The close cooperation between Cargolux ALPL Board and the APCI should help to prevent what has happened in the past and what is most likely the intention of management now and in the future, namely, to use the existence of both airlines as a leverage in the respective CWA negotiations and to play off both pilot groups against each other.
 
For clarification, this development does not change the position in the ongoing negotiations and the claim to protect the jobs and career perspective of all pilots working for Cargolux Luxembourg and Cargolux Italia by maintaining the current number of airplanes.

The agreement is to be seen as part of our strategy in the mid and long term to mitigate and in best case even eliminate the threat of outsourcing and social dumping in the future. 

Following the last negotiation meetings on 18 and 19 January 2023 and due to the slow progress of the negotiations, the Unions requested to have two additional meetings at the beginning of February.

In this Debrief edition we provide our members with an update about the last meetings, which took place on 01 and 02 February 2023 and where we stand in these negotiations.

On 18 January 2023 a further CWA negotiation meeting addressing pilot related claims took place followed by a meeting on 19 January 2023 addressing common claims of interest to both pilots and ground staff. In this Debrief edition we provide our members with an update about these meetings and where we stand in this negotiation.

a few weeks ago, China decided to scrap its COVID-19 rules and to reopen the country without almost any notable restrictions after having had in place one of the most restrictive COVID-19 policies worldwide for more than two years. 
 
Shortly thereafter, also Hong Kong lifted its restrictions and basically overnight significantly relaxed its entry requirements.
 
Whilst we all certainly welcome these changes as a step towards normality, especially in connection with China, the extreme turnaround already leads to a tremendous increase of infections in mainland China and to an overload of their health care system. 
 
With this in mind, we decided to send a letter to the CEO and Flight Operation Management to underscore our position concerning a possible resumption of layovers in China, as well as to address the current layovers in HKG, where we ask to move back to the Shangri La latest after Chinese New Year.
 
Please click here to read the letter.

On 15 December 2022 a further CWA negotiation meeting addressing pilot related claims took place. In this Debrief edition we provide our members with an update about this meeting.