With protestors from the three unions that represent staff at Luxair gathered outside, delegates at Monday’s aviation tripartite were under no illusion that a solution had to be found for the impasse between Luxair management and staff.
When transport minister François Bausch (déi Gréng) and the lead negotiators, LCBG union president Patrick Dury, OGBL representative Michelle Cloos, employment minister Georges Engel and Luxair CEO Gilles Feith, emerged after close to three hours of meetings, it was to announce that the employment maintenance plan (PME) was, in the words of Bausch, “no longer relevant”.
Nevertheless, some measures under the PME, which had been introduced to help the airline and staff weather the covid pandemic, will remain in place until the end of the year, to allow the airline time to adjust.
The issue of the wage freeze was very important to do justice to the work put in by the employees
Most importantly, perhaps, for Luxair staff who feel the extra work they have been expected to do due to a staff shortage, the freeze on salary increases will be lifted as of 1 January 2023.
"This is an important step forward," said Michelle Cloos. "The issue of the wage freeze was very important in order to do justice to the work of the employees.” The unions had been disappointed that the wage freeze would leave staff lagging behind the salary scale. Under their collective bargaining agreement, employees at Luxair are guaranteed an annual move up the pay scale, worth between 1.5 to 2% per year.
Early retirement
Early retirement will also remain in place, with some 44 employees eligible to take up the offer in 2023. So far a total of 150 have taken early retirement since the temporary scheme was introduced.
The short-term employment scheme, however, will end with immediate effect even though it has not been used at Luxair since July--there are still some 15 workers on structural short-time employment and about fifty staff still on loan to the State where they had been redeployed to ensure they had work and a salary.
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But Cloos and Patrick Dury of the LCGB are now hoping that meetings with mediator Robert Biever, the former attorney general, will improve dialogue between staff and management and lead to an improvement in working conditions. Cloos is adamant that the pressure put on the airline and the government by staff, including Monday’s impressive turnout of around 800 for the protest was crucial. "Without the support of the employees, we would not have achieved the same result," she said.
Gilles Feith said he welcomed the beginning of mediation talks, and said that they should help solve the problems between staff and management “for the good of the future of the airline,” which he said was still a major employer and vital player in the Luxembourg economy.
But Bausch also added a note of caution with the shadow of recession looming and the continuing energy crisis – including a possible shortage of kerosene – still impacting the airline. "We have agreed to meet in 2023 if other problems arise," the minister said.