With government support for independent businesses likely ending in the summer, the Federation of Craftsmen has called on authorities to reconsider health restrictions.

"We have to get out of this mess", said Romain Schmit, the federtaion's secretary general.

He argued that with the end of financial aids, companies should be allowed to operate normally again. "The time has come to consider lifting the restrictions", Schmit stated, adding that this is in the interest of the crafts businesses, but also of the employees working there.

Schmit explained that to him, it seems like "everyone is in a kind of Covid phobia". The secretary general said he almost had the impression authorities don't want to get out of the situation at all.

As head of the Socom Group, Marc Thein employs around 1,130 people. "We are currently experiencing a difficult situation," he said. Depending on the week, 12 to 18% of the employees are absent.

Thein thinks that of those 12 to 18%, "about a third" are actually positive.

Employees with children in school regularly have to stay at home in isolation, even if most of them are not sick, as Thein explains. While office workers can resort to telework, artisans do not have that option, the head of the Socom Group pointed out.

Even for the teams that are present, it is "a complicated time", Thein stated, as they often have to compensate for their absent colleagues. As an employer, Thein also suggested that employees are beginning to lose their morale. "You can see that people are at the end of their tether", he acknowledged.

For this reason, Thein said that authorities need to act "very, very urgently" because otherwise the consequences of isolation and quarantine risk being "counterproductive". Thein fears that people might fall victim to other illnesses "that will be more on the psychological side".

The 3G regime has resulted in some employees feeling controlled by their employer. "It is difficult for companies to get employees to accept the health policy," say officials of the Federation of Craftsmen.

Romain Schmit criticises that "there are so many restrictions everywhere", stressing that, in his opinion, they all need to be "seriously reconsidered".

The full report in Luxembourgish by our colleagues from RTL Télé: