In September 2001, Luxembourg's iron and steel industry tripartite committee agreed that blue- and white-collar workers at the Arbed company born in 1945, 1946 and 1947 may apply for early retirement on their 57th birthday.
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In September 2001, Luxembourg's iron and steel industry tripartite committee agreed that blue- and white-collar workers at the Arbed company born in 1945, 1946 and 1947 may apply for early retirement on their 57th birthday.
In 1977, during the mid-1970s steel crisis, an early retirement plan was introduced by the national tripartite committee for the sector, with a view to avoiding job losses in the iron and steel industry. Within the framework of this plan, the iron and steel tripartite committee decided in 1996 that staff born in 1943 and 1944 could take early retirement on 1 January 2000 and 1 January 2001 respectively.
At a meeting of the Iron and Steel Sector Employment Supervisory Committee (Comitá de surveillance des effectifs de la sidárurgie) held on 13 December 1999, a number of fundamental disagreements arose on the subject of early retirement for employees born from 1945 onwards. The employer, Arbed, sought a staggered pre-retirement scheme - those born in 1945 would take early retirement on their 57th birthday, while those born in 1946 would have to wait for six months after their birthday, and those born in 1947 would have to wait 12 months (LU0001126N).
On 4 September 2001, an iron and steel tripartite committee meeting examined the future of NewCo, the major multinational in the steel sector announced in February 2001 following a merger between Arbed (Luxembourg), Usinor (France) and Aceralia (Spain) (BE0104344F). The green light for this merger was expected from the European Commission competition authorities in mid-November 2001. Ways of approaching the issue of early retirement were also discussed, relating to adjustments for employees born in the period 1945-7.
At a subsequent meeting on 13 September 2001, the 'early retirement adjustment' issue was finalised once and for all. Blue- and white-collar workers at Arbed born in 1945, 1946 and 1947 may, if they wish, apply for early retirement on their 57th birthday. This deal affects 262 blue- and white-collar staff born in 1945, 298 born in 1946, and 337 born in 1947. Half of them would have been entitled to take early retirement anyway, as they already have more than 20 years' service in shiftwork.
The Employment Fund (Fonds pour l'emploi) has agreed to underwrite all the costs, and Arbed will fund a retraining unit for blue-collar workers unable to continue working in production. Through vocational training, the unit will give those concerned an opportunity to retrain for other work in the enterprise.
The members of the tripartite committee also stated that they will address matters linked to the future of social partnership in NewCo, the world's new number one steel group, at their next meeting in early November 2001.
Eurofound doporučuje citovat tuto publikaci následujícím způsobem.
Eurofound (2001), Agreement on early retirement in iron and steel, article.
