The staff delegation of Marks & Clerk (Luxembourg), together with national trade union OGBL, express their strong concern and firm opposition to the company’s decision to carry out mass redundancies affecting 28 out of 30 employees (plus one fixed-term employee and one senior manager who do not fall under the social plan)\u2014 over 90% of the local workforce.<\/p>\n
These layoffs, announced without meaningful prior consultation, follow the company\u2019s internal decision to shut down its Luxembourg office. Despite the profound impact on the employees and their families, Marks & Clerk management has so far refused to negotiate a fair and balanced social plan with the staff delegation and union representatives.<\/p>\n
Under Luxembourg labour law, a social plan must be negotiated within 15 days. This initial deadline expired on 22 July 2025, without any meaningful progress. As a result, the matter was referred to the \u201cOffice National de Conciliation\u201d (ONC), and the first ONC meeting was held on 4 August 2025.<\/p>\n
Despite this formal escalation, Marks & Clerk management continues to show no willingness to modify its position or engage seriously in negotiations. In accordance with legal procedure, a new 15-day negotiation period has now started. If no agreement is reached by 19 August 2025, the employer will be legally entitled to proceed with dismissals under only the statutory minimum conditions, without an agreed social plan.<\/p>\n
The staff delegation, supported by OGBL, is demanding the following key social measures:<\/strong><\/p>\n These measures are essential as the affected employees work in a highly specialised field \u2014 intellectual property (IP), with a focus on international patent administration \u2014 where job opportunities in Luxembourg are extremely limited.<\/p>\n This situation is particularly alarming given that Marks & Clerk is a globally active intellectual property firm, with operations across Europe, North America, and Asia. Marks & Clerk LLP (covering the UK offices and Luxembourg) reported a profit of \u20ac24,053,713 for the financial year 2024 (before members\u2019 remuneration) \u2014 an increase of more than 20% compared to the 2023 financial year.<\/p>\n The lack of corporate social responsibility shown toward its employees in Luxembourg is unacceptable. Notably, during discussions, management explicitly stated that the affordability of the staff delegation’s proposals does not obligate the company to accept or fund them \u2014 a stance that underscores their unwillingness to support employees even where financial capacity clearly exists.<\/p>\n The staff delegation highlights:<\/strong><\/p>\n We call on Marks & Clerk\u2019s global leadership to:<\/strong><\/p>\n The staff delegation, together with OGBL, remains fully committed to defending the rights and interests of the affected employees through all available legal and institutional channels.<\/p>\n Announced by the OGBL Services and Energy Syndicate\n
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\n<\/strong>on August 6, 2025<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":56092,"template":"","categorie_communiques":[54],"syndicat":[73],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n