© Jeannot Ries
On Monday morning, the Luxembourg Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (LCGB) held its traditional Labour Day event at the Esplanade in Remich where Patrick Dury reviewed recent achievements and presented the Confederation's future demands.
"Those who question the existence of their employees, those who want to sabotage our conciliation and thereby the collective contract, those are destroying our social model", said LCGB president Patrick Dury during his Labour Day address.
According to the union leader, Luxembourg's industry sector has understood this message. He expressed hopes that Cargolux will soon follow suit. The LCGB recently accused the air freight carrier of refusing to conduct collective contract negotiations.
Around 1,300 people joined the event of the Confederation in Remich on Monday morning. Among them were PM Xavier Bettel, Deputy PM François Bausch, Deputy PM Paulette Lenert, as well as Luc Frieden, lead candidate for the Christian Social People's Party (CSV).
Dury also addressed structural problems, particularly highlighting issues in the housing and healthcare sectors. He accordingly argued that the structure of the National Health Fund cannot be reformed and therefore requires a complete overhaul.
The LCGB president further condemned "socialist ideologies" and pleaded that people wake up from their "leftist dreams".
Fewer loans negative for construction
As for housing, Dury said that politicians missed the opportunity to drive up development and that plain mistakes were made: "In the logic of our market economy, the offer actually has to be increased massively to meet the demand and cap prices and rents. That also means that one has to create a climate where investments into housing are made and the government accompanies these policies with structures like the Housing Fund."
The LCGB president noted that the Minister for Housing should realise that current legal texts fail to put emphasis on this direction. "The interest policies set by the European Central Bank aggravate the entire thing as real-estate loans are becoming increasingly expensive", Dury further stated.
A lower rate in loans means construction ends up in decline. As rents are on the rise, the LCGB argues that more affordable housing needs to be created, particularly for young families.
List of demands
Confederation representatives presented a whole list of demands on Monday:
- Employees in the private sector should benefit from profits
- Tax policies should relieve low and mid-income employees
- Permanent Employment Contracts (CDI) should remain the norm
- The wage indexation should be maintained
- New collective contracts should be negotiated
- The minimum wage should regularly be updated
- A reduction of working hours should be discussed
According to the LCGB, it should also be examined if mandatory voting makes sense as only a minority of people will soon decide over the composition of the Chamber of Deputies.
Concluding remarks
Dury explained that although economic implications from the sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine are challenging, they are necessary. He drew attention to Russia's efforts in supporting populist and extremis politicians in the west and argued that some of them are even present in the Grand Duchy. He labelled them as "disgusting" without enlisting any names.
As the Russian invasion has had serious consequences for the European economy, the LCGB was happy with the results they achieved during tripartite negotiations. Dury emphasised:
"Thanks to the LCGB and the other unions we ensured to have a cap on energy prices, including gas and electricity, which significantly slowed down inflation and thereby substantially avoided pressure on people. Thanks to the LCGB we secured the wage indexation and partially adjusted the tax scale to inflation, which not only means securing the purchasing power of employees and retirees, but also improving them... Thanks to the LCGB, this tripartite agreement stipulated a number of aids for businesses."
