Employee Representation

The first limb ¹ of the fifth compulsory requirement that has, under loi du 11 fevrier 1950, to be agreed in a French ‘convention collective susceptible d’extension’ ² is the matter relating to the ‘délégués du personnel’. ³ A ‘délégué du personnel’ is an elected worker who represents his fellow workers in an establishment in order to inform the employer of the individual rights of the worker, which have not been met by this former, and which relate to wages, the trade classifications of the Code du Travail, protective legislation, hygiene and social security. ⁴ His other functions include the investigation of complaints, the accompaniment of the ‘inspecteur du travail’ ⁵ during his visits to the appropriate part of the establishment and the making of suggestions in relation to the legal requirements which must be met by the employer. His functions, ⁶ it will be readily noticed, though not identical, are not dissimilar to one important aspect of those of the British shop steward’s, ⁷ namely the representation of his constituents in dealings with management, and his involvement to regulate workers’ pay and working conditions. In Luxembourg the equivalent is the ‘delegation ouvrière’ and the separate ‘delegation d’employés’. ⁸ It must be noted that the functions of these representatives are not identical to those of their French and British counterparts, since they overspill into the domain of works councils in Britain, ‘comités d’entreprise’ in France and ‘conseils d’entreprise’ in Belgium. ⁹ The reason for the width of functions of the Luxembourg ‘délégués’ is that Luxembourg has not, until recently, ¹⁰ had an equivalent to the works council etc. before the institution of the ‘comités mixtes’.