With business low because of the pandemic, security company G4S in May that it would cut 80 jobs and lay off 60 employees as part of a social plan. Trade unions entered talks with company management for to avoid redundancies.

“The discussions were constructive and we found solutions in the framework of a job retention plan in June. But since then, G4S has found new contracts and the company has won several tenders,” said Michelle Cloos of the OGBL.

The company is even experiencing a reverse trend and according to the unions, the company will need to recruit. “There is no longer any need to discuss restructuring or downsizing,” the OGBL and the LCGB said in a joint statement.

“This also shows that we had a rather accurate view of the situation insofar as we were convinced that activity would pick up in the future, whereas management was much more cautious in view of the uncertainty of the level of activity in the months to come,” said Cloos.

The recent pandemic restrictions and the reinforcement of CovidCheck in companies have contributed to giving more activity to the security company, which has just over 1,200 employees in Luxembourg.

“We can see that companies are going to subcontract the CovidCheck, which is going to be compulsory from 15 January, which may have helped to boost activity. But the most important thing is to have succeeded, through constructive discussions and effective social dialogue, in avoiding redundancies while preserving the sectoral collective agreement,” said Cloos.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.