They talk to each through the media... but they don't say the same thing depending on who they're talking to. Because they don't have the same interests. While the OGBL labour union, preparing for its national congress, criticised Hëllef um Terrain's board of directors at the start of Tuesday afternoon, a few hours later the board welcomed the signing of the new contracts, the starting point of a new phase in the life of the organisation, which serves the country’s most vulnerable.
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Thierry Labro: Is the OGBL right to insist that everything should have been done within the framework of a company transfer?
: Whether the union is right or wrong is not my point. There are many things involved in the review of the situation, ranging from furniture and property to employees and activities. In fact, a court would ask to see the new agreements in order to verify - and this is the central point - that the new entity is carrying out exactly the same activities as the old one, even if on different premises and under different conditions. It is up to the judge to assess the situation.
Were the employees who seem to have largely signed their new contracts wrong to move so quickly?
An employee who has signed a new contract has not forfeited any of his or her rights in the event that the contract is reclassified as a transfer of undertaking, by which I mean rights such as seniority and salary. Even if, in the context of Caritas, we're certainly not talking about sky-high salaries.
Is it unusual to show contracts to those who are supposed to sign them and then 'invite' them to sign them, even two hours later?
It's very unusual! I've rarely seen that, but the situation itself is exceptional. You don't see everything that goes on behind the scenes. When banks are sold or merged, for example, they usually prepare redundancy plans before the change of structure to avoid problems afterwards. In the case of an employee takeover, we could very well have had a draft employment contract sent to us by email. The person concerned examines it or has it examined and makes comments, asks questions or expresses reservations.
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On Tuesday evening, Mr Billon, who is managing the new entity for the time being, did not elaborate on the new agreements, mentioning a few new conditions, probably dictated by the state's prudence...
Or simply by the new law on non-profit organisations, which creates additional obligations. We'll have to show the agreements to the judge.
The OGBL has another interest that it doesn't talk much about: keeping its representatives on the Hëllef um Terrain delegation, right?
Yes, a company transfer would also mean that employees who are already OGBL representatives remain OGBL representatives, which is not the case today.
Read the original French-language version of this interview