Luxembourg: unions worried about temporary agencies doing placement activities

ILO convention.  “This opening is envisaged when the current reality in this area is such that the activity of a temporary work agency is becoming increasingly inseparable from that of recruitment firms” reads the bill in a comment of the article.  The latter proposes amending the Labor Code as regards the conditions to give the permit to operate, which the Ministry of Labor gives temporary agencies.  So far, the condition was that the agency only acted as a “temporary work entrepreneur.”  The country’s key union, OGBL, winced at the bill’s provision.  It said the text went against ILO Convention No.  96, known as the Free-Charging Employment Agencies Convention, which provides that they are abolished when a public service is established.  In Luxembourg, it is the case for the ADEM, the employment authority, in charge of helping jobseekers through their search.  Yet, Luxembourg has signed the ILO’s Convention.  Thus, the OGLB is hoping that the provision will be removed and that there will be a debate on the subject within the Permanent Committee on Labor and Employment – a tripartite organization which monitors the labor market situation in Luxembourg.