Caritas committee claims former staff delegates afraid to attend hearings

The special parliamentary committee on the Caritas affair met again on Monday to hear testimony from delegates of the OGBL trade union, which has taken successor organisation HUT to court over the transfer of contracts.

The committee had wanted to question staff representatives on the transition from Caritas to successor organisation HUT – Hëllef um Terrain, but were told by LSAP MP Taina Bofferding that staff did not want to testify because they feared sanctions from their new employer.

“This shows that there is an atmosphere of fear,” Bofferding told the committee.

There is currently no new staff delegation at HUT, but social elections are due to take place in March. The former staff representatives therefore do not currently enjoy the special labour law protection that delegates normally have. Staff delegates cannot be dismissed, even for misconduct, during their term in office.

Contract conditions largely the same

A lawyer representing some former employees testified and explained why his clients had launched legal action. According to Bofferding, a legal opinion had stated that HUT taking over Caritas and its staff was part of a legal so-called transfer d’entreprise [transfer of business].

However, the staff claim that the transition management had ignored this opinion and that there had been no formal transfer of the company. As a result, the staff delegation was not recognised by the new HUT structure.

Committee President Charel Weiler (CSV) asked the trade unionists whether the employees’ contractual conditions remained the same during the transfer. “That was almost entirely the case,” Weiler told the Luxemburger Wort. Their years of service for Caritas was also recognised by HUT. “That was the key point for us,” he added.