The firm, which employs 1,200 people in Luxembourg, is expected to provide social partners and the staff delegation with details of a redundancy plan by the end of the week.

This would be the second redundancy plan in the history of this sector and the second for G4S which, at the time, was overstaffed following the loss of the European Commission contract and the refusal of G4S management to transfer the security agents concerned to the new holder of the security contract.

Since then, the trade unions that signed the sectoral collective labour agreement have succeeded in integrating clauses regarding the takeover of personnel in case of loss of contract, obliging the sellers to transfer the security guards to the new contractee firm.

In addition, the number of players in the security market has multiplied in Luxembourg, further increasing competition in what is a small market. “It should be noted that the private security sector has continued to grow in recent years, and that the sector now has nearly 22 companies present on the market,” the two unions said in a joint press release.

In addition, G4S has been in the news in recent months following its takeover by Allied Universal in March 2021 and the recent sale of its cash-in-transit business to Brink’s Security.

“The unions are particularly concerned about the 1,200 employees of G4S, even though the scope of the redundancy plan is not yet known. The OGBL and LCGB are firmly opposed to redundancies and demand that internal and sectoral solutions be favoured and negotiated, in particular by means of a sectoral job retention plan. This instrument provides for a whole range of social measures, such as short-time working, temporary loan of labour, early retirement and adjustment, reduction of working hours, etc.,” said the unions, which have already announced that job retention is a priority.

This article was originally published in French for Paperjam.lu. It has been translated and edited for Delano.