Background information

On 9 November 2020 and after two preliminary tripartite meetings, a tripartite agreement between the trade unions "Onofhängege Gewerkschaftsbond Lëtzebuerg" (OGBL, Independent Trade Union Confederation of Luxembourg), the " Lëtzebuerger Chrëschtleche Gewerkschaftsbond" (LCGB, Luxembourg Confederation of Christian Trade Unions) and the general management of the "Société Luxembourgeoise de Navigation Aérienne" (Luxair S.a.) had been signed.

This agreement is the outcome of the work of different joint working groups (employers and trade unions) targeting at the retention and reclassification of employees to cushion the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. The aviation sector is one of the sectors most affected by the crisis, but the meetings took place in a constructive climate and aimed to guarantee the sustainability of companies in the sector by taking into account the structural adjustments to be made and which are linked to the pandemic.

Law of 24 December 1977 authorising the Government to take measures to stimulate economic growth and maintain full employment. (Loi du 24 décembre 1977 autorisant le Gouvernement à prendre les mesures destinées à stimuler la croissance économique et à maintenir le plein emploi), Mémorial A n°79, 28 November 1977.

Content of measure

After the results of the tripartite working groups had been validated at the beginning of November 2020 by the social partners, the tripartite agreement provides the following elements in order to stabilise the sector:

• Organisation of two annual tripartite meetings to take stock of the financial, economic and social situation of the aviation sector;
• a plan for the future 2020-2023 which contains all the accompanying measures foreseen.

These measures are mainly early retirement and redeployment through the creation of a redeployment unit;

• an amendment to the Luxair collective agreement, which is extended until December 31, 2023, guaranteeing all the achievements except for salary increases, but which will be renegotiated when Luxair's situation will normalise.

The state who owns around 39 % of the capital of Luxair will participate in the funding of the redeployment unit with up to an estimated amount of €50 million in three years.

Use of measure

20% of the employees of Luxair will be concerned by the measures. Regarding the impact of the crises at Luxair, 600 employees will be affected by the tripartite agreement. Half of the employees involved will take early retirement, and the other half will be concerned by redeployment measures.

The redeployment measures needs an adaptation of the legal basis regarding the number of persons concerned by redeployment.

Contents

• Employment retention
• Other topics
• Pay freezes or cuts

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Applies to all workers	Sector specific set of companies	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Trade unions Company / Companies	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative
Form	Consultation through tripartite or bipartite social dialogue bodies	Consultation through tripartite or bipartite social dialogue bodies

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Social partners jointly
• Main level of involvement: Sectoral or branch level

Involvement

The meeting with representatives of the LCGB, OGB-L and NGL-SNEP was requested by the government in order to establish a state of affairs in the area. Subsequently, the directors of Cargolux, lux-Airport and Luxair presented the current situation of their respective companies, in full transparency. After that first meeting, tripartite working groups developed the different propositions, which has been validated in October 2020 and signs in the tripartite agreement in November 2020.

Views and reactions

The trade unions OGBL and LCGB were very satisfied by the outcome as the tripartite agreement also includes the renewal of the collective agreement. Officially in place until 31 December, the text is not be denounced and will therefore remain in force for the next three years. The new collective agreement guarantees the social acquisition of the employees even if there will be a wage freeze for the same period.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 09 November 2020: Aviation : accord tripartite signé Aviation: accord tripartite sign (www.ogbl.lu)