On Wednesday, Carlo Thelen, director of the Chamber of Commerce, suggested to RTL that the government should hire fewer civil servants and redeploy existing staff over recruiting new employees.
Now, the Independent Luxembourg Trade Union Confederation, or OGBL, has published an open letter criticising Thelen's comments. Civil servants are not a cost factor to be kept as low as possible, they argued in a press release issued on Thursday afternoon.
State employees are fundamental in providing a functioning government, they said, and also a guarantee in providing public services to the population.
The lack of new roles in the private sector would not be fixed by reducing jobs in the civil service, the OGBL continued, as the work and challenges in public service will only continue to increase.
