The Federation of Private Employees (french: Fédération des employés privés, FEP) was a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

representing private sector, white collar workers in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. The union was founded in 1918, when the recently founded National Federation of Private Employees merged with a union of white collar workers in the mining industry. Until the 1960s, it focused on attempting to change the law to give its members similar working conditions to

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

s. From 1965, it became involved in more

collective agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...

s, and this helped it increase its membership, which reached 16,000 by 1974. In the 1970s, the union worked closely with the

Luxembourg Workers' Union The Luxembourg Workers' Union ( lb, Lëtzebuerger Arbechter-Verband, LAV) was a general union in Luxembourg. The union was founded in 1920, as the Luxembourg Mining and Metalworkers' Union. This was a merger of the Luxembourg Miners' and Ironworke ...

(LAV), but this led to internal disagreements, and the

Luxembourg Association of Banking and Insurance Employees The Luxembourg Association of Banking and Insurance Employees (french: Association Luxembourgeoise des Employés des Banques et Assurances, ALEBA) is a trade union representing workers in the finance sector in Luxembourg. The union was founded in 1 ...

(ALEBA) split away in 1976. In 1979, the union's leadership left, along with some of the members, to join the

Independent Luxembourg Trade Union Confederation The Independent Luxembourg Trade Union Confederation (Luxembourgish: ''Onofhängege Gewerkschaftsbond Lëtzebuerg'', German: ''Unabhängiger Gewerkschaftsbund Luxemburg''), also OGBL or OGB-L, is a Luxembourgish general union. History The union w ...

, successor to the LAV. The union's membership fell to only 5,000 by 1989, and the following year, the right wing of the union split away, forming the National Union of Private Employees — Reformers (SNEP). In 1998, it lost its last seat on a representative body, and it dissolved soon afterwards.{{cite web , last1=Feyereisen , first1=Marc , title=Social election results: demise of FEP confirmed , url=https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/article/1998/social-election-results-demise-of-fep-confirmed , website=Eurofound , access-date=24 August 2021

References

Clerical trade unions Trade unions established in 1918 Trade unions disestablished in 1998 Trade unions in Luxembourg