Graphic professions

Duration of the agreement

The collective agreement is made each time for a period of 2 years. It then continues for 6-monthly periods by tacit renewal, unless terminated in writing with 3 months’ notice before expiry thereof.

Scope

This collective agreement covers all typesetting, printing, binding and reprography workshops established independently in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, as well as all workers employed by such undertakings as holders of certificate of completion of apprenticeship, other craftspeople holding an certificate of completion of apprenticeship, skilled and unskilled workers.

Salary/Remuneration

General

• The salary is freely agreed between the employer and the employee, but may not be less than the standard minimum wage.
• The salary period corresponds to 1 calendar month.
• As part of the undertaking’s internal arrangements, advances may be paid weekly, every 10 days or bi-monthly, by mutual agreement. The preceding month must be paid no later than the 5^th day of each month. If the date of payment of the salary coincides with a non-working day, payment must be made on the preceding working day.
• Any employee who is prevented from taking their lunch break at the employer’s behest, without having been notified the day before, may claim a special allowance to the amount of their usual hourly wage. No unsupervised apprentices may be assigned to such work.
• The remuneration of disabled employees is governed by the Law of 12 November 1991 on disabled workers.
• Unjustified absences are not paid.

Other employees not covered by this collective agreement shall be paid the statutory minimum wage.

Job titles

Other remuneration

Overtime (Article 7)

• Overtime is governed by the statutory provisions regulating working hours (Law of 9 December 1970 – repealed by the Law of 31 July 2006 introducing a Code du Travail [Labour Code]. The common-law provisions laid down in the Labour Code are applicable.).
• Overtime may not be compensated for by a reduction in working hours on another day of the week without the employee’s consent.
• In the case of successive hours of overtime worked on the same working day, the revalorisation increase shall be 25% for the first 2 hours of overtime and 35% for all subsequent hours thereof.
  For more than 2 hours of overtime worked beyond normal working hours, an employee is granted a break of one quarter of an hour.
• Overtime of less than half an hour shall be remunerated as half an hour and that of between half an hour and a full hour as a full hour provided, however, that the overtime actually worked is at least 25 minutes or 50 minutes, respectively.
• In the event of sudden and unforeseen need for overtime, employees will be required to work the overtime requested. Employees’ justified reasons for not working the overtime should be taken into account as far as possible.

On-call allowance (Article 8)

An on-call allowance of 55 francs will be payable for the production of newspapers, special editions or special publications between 6.00 on a Sunday or public holiday and 6.00 the following day.

Night work (Article 9)

• For normal working hours between 20.00 and 6.00, which are regarded as night work, the following revalorisation increases apply:
  • 15% from 20.00 to 21.00;
  • 25% from 21.00 to 23.00;
  • 35% from 23.00 to 2.00;
  • 45% from 02.00 to 6.00.
• Revalorisation increases for night work and overtime cannot be cumulated, but the employee is entitled to the highest revalorisation increase in each case. This provision shall not prejudice employees who benefit from more advantageous internal agreements (see Article 4, paragraph 4).

Sunday work (Article 10)

For working hours worked on Sundays, the appropriate salary plus 100% will be payable (see Article 4, paragraph 4).

Public holidays (Article 11)

• Are considered to be public holidays within the meaning of the Law of 10 April 1976 (repealed by the Law of 31 July 2006 introducing a Labour Code. The common-law provisions laid down in the Labour Code shall apply.): New Year’s Day, Easter Monday, 1 May, Ascension Day, Whit Sunday, the National Holiday, Assumption Day, All Saints’ Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day (25 and 26 December).
• If one of these public holidays coincides with a non-working day, the statutory provisions will apply.
• For hours worked on public holidays, the appropriate salary plus 100% will be payable in addition to the holiday allowance.
• An employee may not claim the public holiday allowance if they:
  • did not work the day before or the day after the public holiday through their own choice or without reasoned communication in person or in writing from the employer;
  • did not report to work for more than 3 days without justification during the 25 working days preceding the public holiday, even though the reason for their absence could have justified their absence.
• In order to avoid extended breaks in the publication of newspapers in the event of three successive Sundays and public holidays, the employer is entitled to call on those employees who are essential for newspaper production. The hours worked in this case on a public holiday will be remunerated in accordance with the statutory provisions.

Leave allowance (Article 13)

Minimum bonus (Article 14)

Working time

General (Article 4)

• The weekly working time is 40 hours.
• The daily working time is 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, unless specific operational requirements preclude this provision. In this case, an internal rule should be adopted.
• The daily working time shall be interrupted by a lunch break and shall be divided, as far as possible, into two equal parts. The lunch break may not be less than half an hour or more than 2 hours.
• The time required for changing clothes and toilet breaks is not included in the set working time.
• The working time without extra pay is between 6.00 and 20.00.
• Hours worked between 20.00 and 6.00 are regarded as night work.
• Working time with extra pay on Sundays and public holidays is between 6.00 on Sundays and public holidays and 6.00 the following day.

Rules on working time for young people (Article 4)

For young people under the age of 18, the provisions of the loi modifiée sur la protection de la jeunesse [amended Youth Protection Act] apply.

Reduction in working hours (Article 5)

The reduction in working time is governed by the statutory provisions of 24 December 1977, as subsequently amended. (Repealed by the Law of 31 July 2006 introducing a Labour Code. The common-law provisions laid down in the Labour Code apply.)

Leave entitlement

General (Article 12)

• Annual leave is governed by the statutory provisions.
• In addition, all employees falling within the scope of this collective agreement shall be entitled to 1 additional day of leave from 01/01/1989. However, this day will be taken into account in the event of a subsequent general reduction in working time.
• All employees with at least 20 years of service in the undertaking are granted 1 additional day of leave.

Paid absences (Article 12)

• Employees over the age of 50 covered by the collective agreement and regularly assigned to the night shift (from 21.00 to 6.00) are entitled to 1 additional day of leave of 8 hours per year.
• For the purposes of the collective agreement, le lundi de carnaval [Carnival Monday] is regarded as an additional day of leave of 8 hours for all employees falling within the scope of this collective agreement. In the event of a subsequent general statutory reduction in working time, due account will be taken of this additional day of leave when calculating the reduction in working time.

Employment contract (Article 15)

The conclusion and termination of employment contracts are governed by the Law of 24 May 1989 on employment contracts.

Health, safety and hygiene

Order and hygiene in undertakings (Article 17)

The provisions of the Association d’assurance accident [Accident Insurance Association of Luxembourg] relating to graphic professions shall apply.

Safety measures (Article 18)

All machinery must be equipped with the usual safety devices. All undertakings are required to have a suitable first-aid kit together with the necessary instructions in order to be able, if required, to provide first aid in the event of sudden illness or injury.

Miscellaneous provisions, including those specific to the sector

The employer is entitled to monitor employee arrival and departure times, if necessary by means of clocking machines.

The employer is entitled to monitor employee performance, for example by using worksheets to be filled in and monitoring devices placed on machines.

If an employee is absent without good reason or excuse, they will be required, as requested by the employer, to make up for lost working hours. In this case, they will be entitled to remuneration for lost hours made up for, without fixed extra pay but with extra pay for work on Sundays and public holidays. The employee must be informed of this stipulation without delay or at the latest when the next salary is paid. Lost working hours may not be made up for without instruction from the employer.

An employee will only be held liable for damage to machinery, tools and materials if they have acted unlawfully or have been found guilty of wilful misconduct or gross negligence. It will be for the employer to prove whether the employee caused the damage intentionally or through gross negligence.

Employees are strictly bound not to disclose business and industry secrets.

As the parties to the contract are bound to absolute freedom of the press, it is agreed that employees may not object whatsoever to the content of a print order.