Nora Back is the President of OGBL, the Independent Trade Union Confederation in Luxembourg
AMCHAM: Please introduce yourself and your union to our International, English-speaking business constituency so they know who you are, and the values you believe in.
I am Nora Back, president since 2019 of the OGBL, the Independent Trade Union Confederation in Luxembourg. The OGBL is the biggest union in Luxembourg, and the only one present in all sectors of the economy and representing workers independently of their statute. The OGBL is politically independent – which is not to be mistaken for neutrality – and also financially independent. Indeed, the OGBL is financed exclusively by its membership fees.
The OGBL struggles so that every woman and man can plan their future and have a decent life. This implies the defense of social security (sickness, pension, social benefits, unemployment…) and the creation of new protections and new social rights (better reconciliation of professional and private life, right to individual training leave, maternity protection, right to parental leave, affordable housing…).
Please give your assessment of the good and bad points of the relations between workers and management in Luxembourg?
In general, Luxembourg has a strong tradition of social dialogue and social peace. Strike days are quite limited, usually compromises can be reached. The tripartite structures (Coordination committee of the tripartite, Economic and Social Committee, tripartite management of the Social security institutions) has insured this and have permitted a comparatively strong influence of both employers’ and workers’ organizations on national political level.
Nevertheless, the Luxemburgish labor law is on several points quite weak and vague. On some points, it needs to be adapted to the current structure of the economy and the labor market. This is especially the case concerning the legislation on collective bargaining, which does not favor sectorial CBAs and limits the capacities of action of the unions in some regards. Another point where the legislation is too weak concerns the protection of employment. It is too easy in Luxembourg to hire and fire.
In what ways do you believe the relations between workers and management are better equal to or worse now than they were 5 years ago and explain why you feel that way?
The Chamber of employees (Chambre des salariés – CSL) does – in collaboration with the University of Luxembourg – an annual survey where the workers are asked about their working conditions at several levels. It’s a scientific, representative, and multilayered tool, which allows to get a global view of the situation in the companies.
Unfortunately, at many levels we see a deterioration of the working conditions in the last five years: work-life balance, burn-out, mental risks, workers autonomy and participation in the working processes, and so on.
These results confirm the feeling that I get when I speak with many of the workers that I meet in my job. I think it is a tough situation at the moment for many workers, financially but also mentally.
What are the 5 most important initiatives you believe need to be taken for the benefit of workers and how will you fight for those initiatives if your union is given empowerment by the voters in the social elections on 12 March?
- A reform of the collective bargaining agreement, with the goal of reaching the European objective of 80% of CBA coverage
- A reform of the legislation concerning job protection plans and social plans, to better ensure protection of jobs, particularly in the context of the digital and ecological transition
- A review of the tax scale, that ensures lower taxation for low to middle salaries while adding brackets for very high incomes, in order to guarantee more fiscal justice
- A structural increase of the legal minimum wage
- A national agreement on the impact of artificial intelligence on the workplace and a clear legislation on platform work, that prevents the phenomenon of fake independent workers
The OGBL will lobby for this through taking positions publicly, by defending these reforms in the Chambre des salaries, by negotiating with employers and with the government, and, if necessary, in the street.
Are you concerned that Luxembourg is becoming less attractive as a business location with companies closing down, leaving or adjusting their presence in Luxembourg because of high taxes and other costs with quite many international companies now have more employees outside of Luxembourg than within Luxembourg? Are you worried about this trend and what steps would you like to suggest to make Luxembourg more attractive for businesses so they grow their employees in Luxembourg?
First of all, I think that Luxembourg is not becoming less attractive. We have a very high productivity of the workers and companies are highly profitable if you look at the right indicators. Taxes are rather low, especially if you look at the effective taxation rate of the companies, but also if you consider the taxation of property or capital revenues. Here we need in fact more fiscal justice and a higher taxation.
I think the main challenge, or the main problem for companies is to get more attractive again for workers. They need to offer better working conditions, a better work-life balance, which also means a working time reduction with maintaining of the salary.
The survey of the CSL has shown this quite clearly and we need a change of the approach of many managers in this aspect.
What steps would you propose to strengthen the partnership and cooperation between companies and your union?
As I said, one of the most important initiatives in the next five years is a reform of the law of the collective bargaining agreements. We need a higher coverage of CBA’s, not only out of European obligations, but especially for the well-being of the workers and also for the companies.
Companies have to see that a reliable partner as the OGBL is for the best and allows to create a strong partnership. This has to be realized at sectoral level, so sectoral CBAs are to be privileged, which allows an equality between workers doing the same work and at the same time prevents unfair competition between companies and levelling down of social rights.
What do you offer and why should voters in the upcoming social elections choose to vote for your union rather than the other election lists?
The OGBL has shown in the last five years that it is steadfast in its defense of workers’ rights. It has notably shown its determination when it refused to sign the tripartite agreement from March 2022, that contained a manipulation of the index. After several months of demonstrations and other actions, the OGBL obtained the return to the regular functioning of the index mechanism. This distinguishes it from the other unions, that were willing to support this index manipulation.
The OGBL will show the same determination in the coming years, not only for the defense of the index, but also for the defense of our public pension system, of our health care system, of a better work/life balance and against all attempts to flexibilise working time regulations to the detriment of employees, etc.
Please feel free to identify and answer one, two or three questions you would have liked to be asked which we did not think to ask…
Beyond the social elections, why should an employee become a member of the OGBL?
The OGBL is both politically and financially independent. It is financed solely by the contributions of its members, which gives it the necessary strength to defend employees’ rights without being dependent of employers or public subsidies. Benefiting from national representativeness, the OGBL is one of the main actors of the Luxembourg social dialogue between the government, employers and employees and thus constitutes a major counter-power.
The OGBL provides both individual and collective services to its members. Individual services are offered by our Information and Assistance Service (Service Information Conseil et Assistance – SICA), which has 19 offices throughout the country and the Grande Région. Collective interests are defended by the 15 professional syndicates of the OGBL, which negotiate over 230 collective bargaining agreements in all the economic sectors.
