The unions' other battleground: professional redeployment

A construction worker who can no longer carry heavy loads, a secretary who can no longer sit behind her computer screen all day, a cleaner who has become ill from breathing the toxic fumes of cleaning products: regardless of the sector, all workers may find themselves unable to continue their job for health reasons. This is what professional redeployment is for, introduced into Luxembourg's labour code by the law of 25 July 2002 on incapacity for work and professional reintegration. "Redeployment was invented as part of the round table on pensions, " recalls Carlos Pereira, member of the OGBL's executive committee. "Many of the issues raised during the tripartite talks concerned the definition of disability and fitness or unfitness for work. The basic philosophy was that it was a good idea that helped a lot of people, but it was written too quickly." This is evidenced by the many more or less substantial revisions. The last major reform dates back to 2016, and a few more measures were amended at the end of 2020.