In an interview with RTL, Nora Back, President of the Independent Luxembourg Trade Union Confederation (OGBL) shares her thoughts on the plight of the country's working poor (individuals who have a job for the large part of the year but remain in poverty) and how she envisions maintaining Luxembourg's attractiveness through income and quality of life.
Following Labour Day, a day to celebrate the working classes and labourers, Nora Back was invited by RTL for an interview regarding the current situation for workers in Luxembourg. She declared that "many workers are not doing well at the moment, and it is absolutely necessary to do everything possible to turn things around."
Back highlighted the importance of voting for parties that prioritise strengthening the welfare state and to beware of extremist right-wing parties vying for votes at the upcoming European elections. According to Back: "The CSV and their European party, the EPP, are increasingly leaning further and further to the right and we should cautiously beware of parties that consider competitiveness as the primary criterion for the well-being of a country."
She continues "I didn't say we should vote against the CSV, the ADR, or the DP. But Europe is going through a difficult social crisis and a shift to the right because people are not doing well. The government's recent announcements regarding the pension system without prior discussions worry me in particular."
According to the OGBL President, if the State finds itself in a tight fiscal situation, the OGBL refuses to accept any reduction in benefits nor a postponement of the retirement age. Instead, the union would focus on incomes, which are equally necessary for providing a good education for the younger generation, a good healthcare system, and good working and wage conditions.
"This is how we can improve the country's attractiveness," emphasises Nora Back. She particularly deplores the fact that despite Luxembourg being a wealthy country, it also has one of the highest rates of working poor: individuals who have a job for the large part of the year but remain in poverty. "This imbalance exists worldwide, but it is growing rapidly in Luxembourg, and we must absolutely consider increased fiscal fairness here."
The OGBL's solution is as follows: income from work should not be taxed more than income from fortunes or capital, as is already the case today. The OGBL also calls for a reform of the income tax scale. Nora Back concludes by suggesting that "perhaps we should prevent the super-super-rich from getting richer and richer at the expense of the collective community."
