100 YEARS
OF HISTORY

IN A CONSTANTLY CHANGING
COUNTRY

Discover

1924

2024

1920 Jacoby Law

For the first time, a chamber of labour is mentioned that was created to represent the workers. This law was not implemented.

1921 THE “GREAT STRIKE”
IN LUXEMBOURG

The repression of the “great strike” of 1921 was a further incident that created mistrust between trade unionists and the public authorities.

1924 Law of 4 April

Creation of five professional chambers, including the Chamber of Labour, representing manual workers, and the Private Employees’ chamber, representing private employees.

1936-1937 SOCIAL
UNREST

A law guarantees trade union freedoms and article 310 of the Penal Code, which denied workers the right to form coalitions, is repealed.

1975-1985 STEEL
CRISIS

The global economic crisis ravages the steel sector, the country’s main industrial asset. The tertiary sector (finance, services) gradually gains ground.

2008 Unique status

Creation of a single status for all employees and merging of the Chamber of Private Employees and the Chamber of Labour into the Chamber of Employees (CSL)

WHAT
NEXT?

CSL continues to represent and safeguard the interests of its members, which count more than 600,000 people.

This commitment is marked by a new baseline: YOU’LL NEVER WORK ALONE.

IN
DETAIL

Download the book *

CSL HISTORY

IN 2 MINUTES

^*History of the Chamber of Employees – a participatory storyline :
Anyone with sources that complement the information presented in the dictionary in Appendix 3 are invited to contact the person responsible for the digital version of this work. Contact : estelle.berthereau@uni.lu

INTERVIEWS TESTIMONIES

Twelve leading figures have their say on the CSL (anecdotes, stories, future)

Georges Bach

Ancien député européen.
Ancien président du Syprolux et ancien membre de la CEPL

Nora Back

Présidente de la CSL.
Présidente de l'OGBL

François Biltgen

Ancien Ministre du Travail.
Juge à la Cour de Justice de l’Union Européenne

Norbert Conter

Ancien vice-président de la CEPL.
Membre LCGB à la CSL

Mars Di Bartolomeo

Ancien Ministre de la santé, de la sécurité sociale.
Vice-président de la Chambre des Députés du Luxembourg

Patrick Dury

Vice-président de la CSL.
Président du LCGB

Sylvain Hoffmann

Directeur de la CSL

René Pizzaferri

Ancien directeur de la CSL.
Membre OGBL à la CSL

Jean-Claude Juncker

Ancien Premier ministre.
Ancien président de la Commission européenne

Jean-Claude Reding

Vice-président de la CSL.
Ancien président de la CSL et de l’OGBL

Marc Spautz

Député CSV.
Ancien Ministre de la Famille et ancien vice-président de la CEPL

Nico Wennmacher

Ancien Président du FNCTTFEL.
Membre du comité de la CSL

See also the written testimonies of Henri Bossi, former President of AK; Marc Glesener, former President of Aleba and former Vice-President of CSL; Nando Pasqualoni, former President of AK and former Vice-President of CSL and Norbert Tremuth, former Director of CEPL and CSL in Appendix 1 of the digital version of the book, soon to be available online.

Academic
session

Celebration of the CSL’s 100th anniversary on 25 January 2024

Discover the music of the evening

From left to right: Sylvain Hoffmann, director of the CSL, Nora Back, president of the CSL, Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Luc Frieden, Prime Minister, Claude Wiseler, president of the Chamber of Deputies

Music: Claire Parsons - singer, Joël Metz - saxophone, Arthur Possing - piano, Pit Dahm - drums, Pol Belardi - double bass

100 years CSL!

From left to right: Sylvain Hoffmann, director of the CSL, Claude Wiseler, president of the Chamber of Deputies, Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Luc Frieden, Prime Minister, Nora Back, president of the CSL

Presentation: « Parlement du travail ». History of the Chamber of employees (1924-2024)

Speech by Nora Back, president of the CSL

View all photos

100 YEARS OF COMMITMENT AND SUCCESS ALONGSIDE THE EMPLOYEES

1918 Introduction of the eight-hour working day.
1926 Introduction of paid leave.
1944 Introduction of the social minimum wage.
1946 Introduction of the Labour Day holiday.
1947 Introduction of family and birth allowances.
1970 Introduction of the 40-hour week.
1975 Introduction of 25 days' paid holiday.
1975 Generalisation of the wages and salaries sliding scale.
1975 Reform of maternity protection for working women.
1986 Introduction of a back-to-school allowance.

1991 Increase in private sector pensions and introduction of a guaranteed minimum pension.
1998 Introduction of long-term care insurance.
1999 Creation of parental leave and leave for family reasons.
2007 Introduction of individual training leave.
2008 Introduction of a single status.
2019 Increase in the minimum social wage.
2019 Increase in the number of days of paid leave and public holidays.
2020 Cross-industry agreement on teleworking.
2023 Introduction of the right to disconnect.
2023 Creation of a legal framework to combat bullying in the workplace.

1920

Jacoby Law

After the strike of 1917 and setting up of a “Sonderausschuss” or extraordinary committee for workers’ interests, as well as a commission for the interests of private employees in 1918, demands were made for the creation of a chamber of employees. The eight-hour working day was introduced after the First World War.

Yet social discontent continued to grow. In 1919, tensions came to a head when the population gathered in Luxembourg City to demand a cost-of-living allowance and other social measures from the Chamber of Deputies.

It was against this tense backdrop that parliamentary debates began on creating a chamber of labour to act as a mouthpiece for the peoples’ demands.

The trade union behind the creation of a wage chamber quickly broke up.

The Socialist MP, Michel Welter, put forward an alternative proposal for a chamber of employees that competed with the more moderate proposal by Pierre Dupong of the right-wing party and the government in power at the time: Welter wanted to create a labour council comprising all the delegates from the factory councils. The Dupong-style wage chamber was seen by many trade unionists as corporatism, with the aim of hindering the right of association.

In fact, Pierre Dupong strongly rejected the socialisation of companies and wanted the wage chamber to serve as a conciliation, arbitration and “weighting” body with a consultative role. This was an argument the State Council had taken up in its opinion of 10 January 1920.

The “Law creating a chamber of labour on an elective basis”, known as the Jacoby Law, was finally passed, but the difficulty of drawing up electoral lists prevented it from being implemented in 1920. As a result, the chambers of employees were not set up at that time.

1921

THE “GREAT STRIKE” IN LUXEMBOURG

A “great strike” took place in Luxembourg in March 1921. The strike represented a turning point in Luxembourg’s social history, and is the toughest social conflict the country has witnessed to date. After three weeks and the intervention of the Luxembourg and French police forces, it ended in failure for the unions. The factory councils were abolished. The strike leaders were fined and imprisoned. They laid off by the steel companies and blacklisted. The setback they suffered led union leaders to focus their movement on a dual mission, i.e. improving the condition of workers, not revolution, but reforming economic structures step by step.

1924

Law of 4 April

It was in the context of the aftermath of the “great strike” that debates on setting up a wage chamber resumed in 1921.

The aim was to create bodies that would ensure social order in the country by setting up instruments for consultation. The chambers of employees would enable socio-economic groups to participate in Luxembourg’s social and economic life, by monitoring social legislation and seeking social progress.

The Law of 4 April 1924 creating professional chambers distinguished between trade union organisations, which were spontaneous associations, and professional chambers, which were associations governed and imposed by law, while at the same time the right to associate was still restricted (art. 310 of the Criminal Code). All members of a socio-professional category were required to join a professional chamber.

The separation of the status of employees and workers was applied with the creation of a Private Employees’ Chamber and a Chamber of Labour, with a distinction made between “white-collar” and “blue-collar” workers.

Despite their mistrust and disappointment, the free trade unions drew up a list of candidates for the first elections in 1925 and quickly understood the importance of winning social elections.

The implementation of the Law of 4 April 1924 therefore democratised access to participation in State institutions and created a trade union elite, the guardian of social demands at procedural level.

The “founding fathers” of the chambers were Barthélémy Barbel and Léon Weirich for the Chamber of Labour, and Alex Werné and Michel Hack for the Private Employees’ Chamber. For a long time, the working world revolved around men, with a few rare exceptions of women who played an important role, such as Lily Becker and Maisy Even.

The Chamber of Labour, which was the most representative body of workers at the time (there were more blue-collar than white-collar workers in 1925), set to work on a wide range of issues, including all forms of worker protection, such as against accidents in the workplace. Other social laws were promoted, such as the introduction of paid leave in 1926, as well as the negotiation of collective agreements.

1936-1937

Steel crisis

In 1936, social movements broke out in response to the 1929 crisis, mobilising trade unions and workers around demands such as the abolition of article 310 of the Penal Code banning workers’ meetings near factories.

On 17 December 1935, the Bech government withdrew the draft law on collective agreements from the agenda of the Chamber of Deputies, triggering a demonstration on 12 January 1936 that sealed the union of the Socialist and Christian trade unions. The so-called muzzle law aimed at banning the Communist Party was rejected in the referendum of 6 June 1937.

The chambers of employees were involved in reforms relating to apprenticeships, accident insurance, social security, holidays, the Labour Inspectorate, the minimum wage and the creation of a General Council of Social Institutions. In response to the mass demonstration by the Socialist and Christian trade unions on 12 January 1936, the Bech government set up the National Labour Council, a joint conciliation body, on 23 January 1936.

In July 1936, the miners went on strike, winning significant social advances such as collective agreements, a 9% pay rise, the introduction of a minimum wage and automatic wage indexation. The 1937 elections enjoyed a high turnout, marking the recognition of the working class in Luxembourg society. The law of 11 May 1936 guaranteed freedom of association for trade unions, repealing article 310.

The chambers of employees developed their expertise on the State budget after 1936, expressing satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

Pierre Krier, the union leader who became Minister for Labour in 1937, helped redefine the social model, in particular by extending insurance against major risks (illness, invalidity, old age, unemployment) to the entire population and proposing the 40-hour work week, which influenced Luxembourg’s social security system after the Second World War.

1975-1985

Steel crisis

La construction européenne, le tournant des années 1970-1980, la tertiarisation avec notamment la financiarisation de l’économie luxembourgeoise, la crise sidérurgique et la création de la tripartite en 1977 constituent des moments charnières et participent à la transformation du Luxembourg y compris au niveau du dialogue social.

Malgré un contexte social complexe et tendu, les Chambres salariales ont encouragé le vote de plusieurs lois sociales concernant les femmes ou encore permettant l’indexation généralisée des salaires.

2008

Statut Unique

With the slowing down of the economy in the mid-2000s and unemployment accelerating, Luxembourg saw the Tripartite Coordination Committee reach an overall agreement in 2006 with the social partners on budgetary policy and public investment, wage indexation, pensions, dependency insurance, solidarity tax, employment policy, minimum social wage, single status, energy policy and housing policy reforms.

An agreement was signed on 28 April 2006 to support long-term economic growth with a new policy for higher education, national education, research, energy, transport and telecommunications infrastructures.

The main issue was compensation for salary indexation, which was deemed unsatisfactory, leading to the negotiation of a single status in 2007.

The bill was submitted to the Chamber of Deputies in August 2007 and adopted on 13 May 2008. The single status eliminated inequalities between blue-collar and white-collar workers, bringing significant changes to labour law.

The 2008 elections were crucial for the new Chamber of Employees, with the OGBL in first place, followed by the LCGB. In 2019, the Chambers of Employees under private law celebrated the tenth anniversary of their merger.

CSL constructs a new building in 2019 to house the Luxembourg Lifelong Learning Centre (LLLC).

WHAT COMES NEXT?

The inclusion of the Professional Chambers in the revised Constitution of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in 2023 symbolically marked the culmination of a century’s work. It comes at a pivotal moment in the country’s history. New challenges linked to the ecological transition, the well-being of workers, exceptional circumstances such as the recent Covid pandemic, as well as growing inequalities with numerous repercussions, particularly on the working poor, are all part of Luxembourg society. These new issues represent major challenges, which the Chamber of Labour is working to understand in order to continue to provide the best possible guidance for policy action.

100 YEARS OF HISTORY