In January 2002, a major scandal broke over the alleged illegal employment of drivers from central and eastern European countries by Kralowetz, an international road haulage company with its registered office in Luxembourg. The affair has uncovered serious shortcomings in Luxembourg's system for
In the wake of a scandal over the alleged embezzlement by its president of members' savings, the Trade Union Federation of Luxembourg Postal Delivery Staff (FSFL) was wound up in February 2002. The decision was taken in order to enable members to recover some of the money they have lost.
A tax reform introduced in Luxembourg in 2002 involves major cuts in taxation on individuals and companies, despite trade union criticism. Luxembourg now claims to have Europe's lowest taxation burden on individuals, and the second lowest on companies.
In January 2002, three trade unions representing private sector white-collar employees in Luxembourg joined forces to oppose a proposal by the Minister of Labour to redefine the criteria for assessing the 'nationally representative' status of unions. The three unions also plan to create a single
Arbed (Luxembourg), Usinor (France) and Aceralia (Spain) have merged to create the world's largest iron and steel producer, Arcelor. In January 2002, the Luxembourg government and social partners agreed that the Luxembourg state should remain an active shareholder in the new group, and that the
In November 2001, it emerged that a Luxembourg government campaign - involving the social partners - to regularise the position of illegal immigrants through a work permit scheme has met with only modest success. This is largely because of a reluctance on the part of employers to hire people whose
In November 2001, following various protest actions by workers, a new collective agreement was concluded for Luxembourg's social and care sector. The deal provides for backdated pay rises of approximately 7% for the sector's 5,000 employees, aligning their pay rates with those of state employees.
The healthy financial state of Luxembourg's sickness insurance scheme meant that the November 2001 general meeting of the Union of Sickness Funds was able to lower contributions, increase the reimbursement rate for medical treatment and reduce patients' contributions to hospital expenses.
In late October 2001, the Luxembourg Minister of Labour presented a draft bill redefining the concept of 'representative' trade unions (representative status brings unions various rights, such as concluding collective agreements). The move is a response to court rulings which overturned existing
Luxembourg introduced parental leave in 1999. A first assessment of the scheme, published in October 2001, finds that nearly 6,000 employees took parental leave in the first two years of its existence. However, the take-up by men has been low - some 90% of those taking leave have been women