November 13 will see a pair of ballots to give employees their economic and labour representation for the next five years. In addition to companies with 15 or more employees voting for staff delegations, that particular Wednesday is the deadline to vote for representatives in the Chambre des salariés Luxembourg.

The Luxembourg Chamber of Employees is a statutory body that represents the interests of workers within the Grand Duchy’s legislative and administrative proceedings. The organisation, for example, issues official opinions on pending Chamber of Deputies bills and government regulations; has a voice in the negotiations surrounding indexation, the country’s system of automatic pay and pension rises; and appoints delegates to the boards that run the Luxembourg’s pension and health insurance funds.

All current and retired employees are entitled to participate in next month’s poll, including apprentices and cross-border commuters. About 430,000 people are eligible to vote, according to the CSL.

The organisation is promoting the poll partly by stressing that it provides civic representation regardless of nationality. “By voting, [participants] are giving impetus to the influence of salaried employees in political debates,” CSL deputy director Sylvain Hoffmann told Delano.

“And for frontier workers as well as for foreign workers who have no right to vote at the legislative elections, it is the possibility to participate in the democratic process in Luxembourg.”

The CSL also offers training and continuing education courses through its Luxembourg Lifelong Learning Center, which “has one of the biggest offers in Luxembourg”, Hoffmann said.

In addition, the chamber publishes guides on “the rights of the employees that covers practically all the aspects of social security and labour law” among other fields.

The CSL continues to educate non-native workers in Luxembourg about its mission, because many international staff are simply not familiar with the concept. “Professional chambers that defend the interests of employees are rather unknown in other countries, except for Austria and two federal states in Germany,” Hoffmann explained.

“That’s why we [started the] campaign to inform all active and retired employees that they have the right to vote by correspondence for their representatives in the CSL.”

New delegates, who are affiliated with Luxembourg trade unions, will serve from January 2014 through January 2019.

The CSL started distributing ballots--in discreet brown envelopes sent to employees’ home addresses--earlier this month.

Completed ballots can be mailed back to the CSL for free from any letterbox in Europe, but envelopes must be received in time for the November 13 vote count.

More information about the CSL elections is available in English on its website.