Towards a Deepening of the Luxembourg Model of Professional Relations - LUXMODEL

Coordinating Institution: CEPS / INSTEAD
From: 01/04/2007
To: 30/09/2010
Budget: 235,000.00€
Contact(s): Clement Franz

Summary

The aim of the project will be to study the so-called Luxemburgish model of professional relations. The first step consists in analyzing the Luxemburgish model from the legislation to the concrete decision taking by its structures and institutions. The second step of the project plans to check the existence of the Luxemburgish model of industrial relations in a comparative international perspective: the focus will be on the profile of the Luxemburgish model, its specificities and its integration (or not) in a European global model.

During 2009, the LUXMODEL project mainly focused on the implementation of Arend Lijphart’s consociational theory in Luxembourg. Four main elements of the theory have been analyzed in the light of Luxembourg’s specificities: - The principle of the "grand coalition": This principle has been applied to the Tripartite Coordination Committee in order to demonstrate how, since its creation until 2009, this committee has evolved in its composition and its ways of finding partners to resolve societal problems. - The principle of "autonomy segments":

The principle has not only been applied to demonstrate the independence of employers’ organizations over unions, but also to show how old cleavages based on ideological families, have become a cleavage between resident and cross-border workers. - The principle of "proportionality": This principle has been essentially applied to the analysis of the social elections of November 2008. - The principle of "veto":

This principle has been revisited historically to show how procedures have changed the veto system within the Tripartite Coordination Committee from 1977 to 1984. The LUXMODEL project also focused on the analysis of several collective bargaining agreements. A survey of the major institutional members of the Tripartite Coordination Committee has also been conducted from January to March 2009 to determine the main elements of decision-making in this Committee.

Publications

• F. CLEMENT, La notion de néo-corporatisme: theories et applications au modèle luxembourgeois de relations professionnelles (2ème partie), Gouvernance et Emploi, numéro 6, février 2009.

Figure 1: Meeting at the CEPS INSTEAD

Figure 2: Project scheme