Minister of Labour blocks registration of banking agreement

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On 1 December 1999, Luxembourg's Minister of Labour blocked the registration of a collective agreement for the banking sector signed by the ALEBA and UEP trade unions, thus denying them nationally representative status. The unions have announced that they will be appealing against this decision before the Administrative Tribunal.

By a ministerial decree of 1 December 1999, Luxembourg's new Minister of Labour blocked registration of a collective agreement for the banking sector signed by the Association of Luxembourg Banks and Bankers (Association des banques et banquiers du Luxembourg, ABBL) and two trade unions - the Luxembourg Association of Bank Staffs (Association luxembourgeoise des employés de banque, ALEBA) and the Union of Private Sector White-Collar Employee (Union des Employés Privés, UEP). The agreement had not been signed by the Luxembourg Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (Onofhängege Gewerkschafts-Bond Lëtzebuerg, OGB-L) and the Luxembourg Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (Lëtzebuerger Chrëschtleche Gewerkschafts-Bond, LCGB) (LU9905104F).

This collective agreement had been sent to the Inspectorate of Labour and Mines (Inspection du travail et des mines, ITM ) on 29 April 1999, and then forwarded to the Minister of Labour with a recommendation that registration should be refused on the grounds that the signatory unions did not have "nationally representative" status. In Luxembourg, for a collective agreement to be valid, it must be registered and have the support of one or more of "the most representative trade union organisations at the national level". This excludes sectoral unions, company unions and enterprise- and establishment-level employee representatives. Trade unions identify themselves as the most representative nationally through the size of their membership, their activities and their independence. Only OGB-L and LCGB have full nationally representative status at present. The Federation of Private Sector White-Collar Employees (Fédération des Employés Privés, FEP), hitherto regarded as having nationally representative status for private sector white-collar workers, lost most of its support in most recent "social elections" of employee representatives on a variety of company and national bodies took place (LU9812185N).

Before announcing his decision, the Minister held two meetings (on 24 November and 1 December 1999) with ABBL, ALEBA and UEP, plus OGB-L and LCGB. He was unable to bring the parties together on certain aspects of the agreement, which might have allowed the nationally representative unions (OGB-L and LCGB) to sign the deal. At the same time, the Minister used the good offices of the National Conciliation Office (Office National de Conciliation) in an attempt to launch negotiations in the banking sector, and appealed to all parties to show constructive cooperation leading to an agreement that satisfies all concerned in the sector.

On 2 December 1999, the president of ALEBA announced that his organisation would appeal against the Minister's decision to refuse to register the agreement before Luxembourg's Administrative Tribunal. He also stated that ALEBA had made a complaint to the International Labour Organisation's Committee on Freedom of Association in Geneva against state of Luxembourg for "interference in trade union affairs through the creation of monopolies that favour political unions". He expected the Committee to "bring the Luxembourg government to book".

The ABBL employers' organisation made it known at the same time that it, too, would be appealing against the ministerial decision before the Administrative Tribunal, adding that forwarding the matter to the National Conciliation Office would make no difference. ABBL also announced that banks would continue to implement the terms of the agreement signed with ALEBA and UEP until such time as there was an agreement that "would satisfy everyone".