Pharmacists union and OGB-L sign collaboration agreement

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In January 2003, the OGB-L trade union confederation and the Luxembourg Union of Non-Dispensing Pharmacists signed a collaboration agreement. They will seek to improve the pay and conditions of white-collar staff in Luxembourg pharmacies, with a view to concluding a collective agreement in this sector.

On 8 January 2003, the Luxembourg Union of Non-Dispensing Pharmacists (Syndicat des Pharmaciens Luxembourgeois sans Officine), representing pharmacy employees, concluded a five-year collaboration agreement with the Luxembourg Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (Onofhängege Gewerkschafts-Bond Lëtzebuerg, OGB-L).

Under the law of 4 July 1973 concerning the organisation of pharmacies, and some subsequent legislation, there are about 80 pharmacies (with dispensaries) in Luxembourg. Most of these operate under a scheme of concessions awarded by the Ministry of Public Health to 'dispensing' pharmacists, who are then authorised by the same Minister to perform their duties in Luxembourg. As soon as a concession falls vacant, or is set up, it is published in the Official Journal (Mémorial), and is awarded to the candidate who, according to a predefined system of calculation, has been on the list for the longest amount of time. At present , about 700 'non-dispensing' pharmacists and assistant pharmacists work in these dispensaries as private white-collar employees under contracts of employment.

Under the terms of the new agreement between OGB-L and the Luxembourg Union of Non-Dispensing Pharmacists, the parties have decided to pursue a joint pay policy with a view to conducting a general revaluation of the profession of pharmacist, and a reform of the way their working time and duty rosters are organised. These workers are said to be weary 'of a pay system that bears little relation to their training, inadequately paid duty rosters, and a general stagnation in their conditions of employment'.

The agreement provides for the establishment in OGB-L of a bargaining commission for the pharmacy sector. This commission will be made up of representatives of the various professional categories of salaried pharmacists (non-dispensing pharmacists and assistant pharmacists) and representatives of the Luxembourg Union of Non-Dispensing Pharmacists. The agreement also seeks the setting up of a joint consultative commission to deal with all matters relating to training and the duties and status of pharmacists.

OGB-L, as the majority trade union representing employees in the health sector, and the Luxembourg Union of Non-Dispensing Pharmacists, which currently claims 260 salaried pharmacists in membership, ultimately intend to ask the qualified pharmacists’ employers’ association to commence negotiations with a view to establishing a new collective agreement for the 700 or so employees in the sector. The last agreement dates from 1991.