One point all three guests could agree on was that the overall target must be a vaccination rate of 85%.
Reckinger stressed that the UEL wants to see a return of normalcy in Luxembourg’s companies. According to Reckinger, employers are responsible for the safety of their employees, suppliers, and customers. However, the trade union representatives demanded that they should be involved in the process to prevent employees from feeling pressured.
Previously, the UEL President had stated that “internal solutions” must be found for people who refuse to get vaccinated out of conviction. In extreme cases, e.g. when an employee is unable to fulfil the job they were assigned to do, it must be possible to penalise them in some way, Reckinger stated. However, this is a red line for the trade unions, with Back describing it as “introducing compulsory vaccination through the backdoor”.
Dury expressed his support for “an effective vaccination campaign” that should properly raise awareness of the vaccines’ benefits among the population. This is the government’s job, the LCGB President argued and criticised the fact that not much had been done in that regard so far.
Nevertheless, both employers and trade unions agree that vaccination is the only way out of the crisis. In particular, Back pointed out, because the CovidCheck certificate is not an airtight solution. For his part, Reckinger stressed that once the vaccination rate reaches 85%, Luxembourg should follow the example of Denmark and lift all restrictions for companies. In that case, the UEL would also demand that employees return to their offices more often again, instead of working from home.
