The General Federation of Municipal Workers (FGFC) has levelled serious allegations against the management of a municipal syndicate in southern Luxembourg, believed to be the Inter-Communal Syndicate for Person Transportation in Esch-sur-Alzette (TICE). According to the union, confidential emails sent by an elected staff representative were read, and their contents were subsequently used against employees.
The FGFC describes the timing as “particularly sensitive,” noting that conciliation talks are currently underway between the union and the syndicate. From the union’s perspective, this balance has now been seriously undermined. If internal union communications were analysed and used to prepare or justify personnel measures, the FGFC argues, this would constitute a “fundamental infringement on the integrity of the process.”
In the FGFC’s view, the latest findings cast new light on the employer’s behaviour in recent months. Certain decisions seemed “conspicuously well-planned,” and reactions were “unusually precise.”
In its statement, the union notes “with great astonishment” that the National Data Protection Commission (CNPD) “apparently takes the view that an employer may, under certain conditions, read emails.” This raises important questions, according to the FGFC, which argues that either the current law is being misunderstood or interpreted in favour of the employer, or insufficient consideration is being given to the fact that staff delegations enjoy special legal protection.
The allegations do not stop there. The FGFC claims that in another southern municipality, developments are emerging “that are no less worrying in their implications.”
According to the union, facts in this municipality were sometimes presented in a way that did not reflect actual circumstances – apparently with the aim of justifying or even forcing disciplinary proceedings. What the FGFC considers particularly serious is that AI systems like ChatGPT were reportedly used to formulate the corresponding allegations, not as a neutral tool, but for the “creative embellishment” of disciplinary justifications.
“Anyone who escalates or constructs disciplinary proceedings with artificially generated phrases is abandoning the principles of professional administrative work,” the FGFC stressed, adding “Disciplinary measures must be based on verifiable facts – not on linguistically enhanced or artificially expanded narratives.”
The union also raises data protection concerns, pointing out that AI chat histories are visible to staff within the administration. When sensitive content or internal matters are processed in such systems and then made widely accessible, the question of accountability and data protection compliance inevitably arises, according to the FGFC.
The FGFC has stated that it will use all legal and institutional means at its disposal. In addition to pursuing data protection measures, the union also expects and demands political consequences.
