In November 2003, employees in Luxembourg will elect representatives on national consultative chambers and social security funds and on workplace employee committees. These important'social elections' provide a major test of the representativeness of the various trade unions.
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In November 2003, employees in Luxembourg will elect representatives on national consultative chambers and social security funds and on workplace employee committees. These important'social elections' provide a major test of the representativeness of the various trade unions.
At the end of October 2003, about 247,000 workers employed by Luxembourg enterprises received at their home addresses the documentation relating to the election of their representatives on two consultative'professional chambers' (LU9810172F) - the Chamber of Private Sector White-Collar Staff (Chambre des Employés Privés, CEP) and the blue-collar Chamber of Labour (Chambre de Travail) - and the administrative bodies of the Sickness and Maternity Insurance Funds (Caisses de Maladie). Eligible workers will cast postal votes in November, from three trade union lists of candidates, for 38 representatives on the Chamber of Private Sector White-Collar Staff and 32 representatives on the Chamber of Labour.
In these five-yearly'social elections', the stakes are high for the trade unions as they must not only position themselves vis-à-vis their rivals, but also persuade voters to return their ballot forms. In the last election in 1998, turn-out among Luxembourg citizens was above 58%, but only 47% among foreign residents and even lower for non-residents. The elections measure trade union strength and provide a fairly accurate idea of their representativeness. In 2003, for the first time, there are more private sector white-collar voters (126,881) than blue-collar voters (120,032), a reflection of a shift in the Luxembourg labour market and economy.
A major point of interest will be the results achieved by the new federation for private sector white-collar staff formed in early 2003 by the Luxembourg Association of Banking and Insurance Staff (Associations luxembourgeoise des employés de banque et d’assurances, ALEBA), the Union of Private Sector White-Collar Employees (Union des employés privés, UEP), the Neutral Union of Luxembourg Workers (Neutral Gewerkschaft Luxembourg, NGL) and the National Union of Private Sector White-Collar Employees (Syndicat national des employés privés-Rénovateurs, SNEP) (LU0303102F). The showing of ALEBA/UEP-NGL-SNEP in the social elections could revive interest in the issue of its nationally representative status (LU0211102F).
On 12 November 2003, there will also be workplace elections of representatives onemployee committee s (délégations du personnels) in Luxembourg's 2,700 enterprises with more than 15 employees (LU0309102T). These elections, too, will constitute a national and sectoral test of representativeness for the trade unions.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2003), 'Social elections' looming, article.
