Following Edmond de Rothschild’s decision to move the IT department from its Luxembourg subsidiary to Switzerland and a related conflict with two unions from Luxembourg, the bank now announced that it changed its stance on the future of some 15 affected employees.

Rothschild announced in January that it will move its IT department from the Grand Duchy to Switzerland, making approximately 15 employees redundant by April 2018.

The company’s apparent refusal of negotiating a social plan for the affected employees met criticism from Luxembourg unions ALEBA and OGBL.

An internal note from the company now came to light, in which the private bank informs its staff representatives that the affected employees do not have to leave the company by 2018.

A spokeswoman for Rothschild told Luxemburger Wort that “growth perspectives and the key position of Luxembourg inside the Rothschild group offer a lot of career opportunities. […] The employees will be accompanied in their future career path with individual development plans and further education”.

She did not want to comment how the company’s change of mind came about.
Unions sceptical

Luxembourg union OGBL said it was surprised by the announcement of the bank but it remained sceptical: “It’s not that easy”, Véronique Eischen of OGBL said.

“The IT department will still be relocated to Switzerland, so the work force in Luxembourg will inevitably be reduced. If the employees can stay on, we’re glad of course. However, we want to know exactly how those people will be occupied to be sure that the company isn’t just speculating that they will leave on their own accord”, she added.

In order to have clarity on this matter, the union asked for an urgent board meeting.