2025 was a demanding but rather positive year, according to the president of the postal workers’ union, Raymond Juchem. For this year, there is one main demand, namely that public unions should be able to sign wage agreements in a public institution.
The union president said that year after year, “they won every election at the Post, were present on every committee, represented the people very well, got everything through, and had representation everywhere”. However, he added that, in the end, the legal text stipulated that only the two large unions were allowed to sign a collective agreement, which he considered a big problem.
Raymond Juchem did not hide that he found the relationship with OGBL and LCGB problematic. He noted that the private unions had not assumed their responsibilities in recent years and had spread false claims.
He admitted that there had been a whole range of issues, and at some point, he said, even his patience had run out.
All the ministers had clearly spoken out in favor of ensuring that the trade union front would not have a seat at the table during negotiations for the next wage agreement.
“For me, there is no discussion about who should negotiate the agreements.”
With regard to the wage agreement, Raymond Juchem is aware that it is a difficult time. Since the housing problem in Luxembourg has not been solved, as a union one cannot go into negotiations and ask for nothing.
The postal workers’ union also has a clear view on a fraud case in the previous union, involving the former president, whom RTL is no longer allowed to name.
He said that they would not forget what he had done. “There was a union that was dissolved. There are savings from the union. All of that is gone. The union was sold. A union had to start from scratch. He lived off the money of the postal workers in Floribus in Mallorca, on his finca and on his yacht, and in the end, that man today wants nothing more to do with it. That, for me, is an affront.”
For the rest, they want to work on improving social dialogue with the post office and on enhancing salary conditions among other things, especially in the lower career levels.
