The President of the General Confederation of the Civil Service (CGFP) was a guest on RTL Radio on Wednesday morning.
At the centre of the controversy is the salary agreement with the trade union for civil servants. According to Wolff, the government is using this agreement to prevent improvements in the sector, which the CGFP sees as a "misinterpretation" of the agreement.
Read also: Government is practicing disinformation politics, claims CGFPWolff mainly holds Minister of Education Claude Meisch and Minister for the Civil Service Marc Hansen, both from the Democratic Party (DP), accountable. He stated that if the government does not know what the agreement actually says, the CGFP is "happy to help". Wolff suggested adding an amendment that would precisely lay out the situation.
The CGFP also does not understand why the government abandoned its tax reform plans, rejecting the official referral to the coronavirus pandemic. After all, Wolff added, Minister of Finance Pierre Gramegna is always stressing how well the country is doing financially despite the pandemic. Wolff thinks that at least some tax breaks should be feasible.
Regarding a "coronavirus tax", an idea brought up by Deputy Prime Minister Dan Kersch, the CGFP is also very sceptical, arguing that it is "nearly impossible to put into practice", seeing as it is, for instance, difficult to assess who "profited" from the crisis.
The CGFP criticises the current social dialogue and demands a tripartite, since it is supposed to be a crisis tool. Wolff pointed out that Prime Minister Xavier Bettel had announced that a tripartite would take place before his State of the Nation address on 12 October. However, this appears to be unlikely. Overall, the social dialogue has not improved during the pandemic, according to Wolff. In September, the CGFP will decide how to proceed during autumn.
When asked about plans to introduce mandatory vaccination for certain civil servants such as teachers or police officers in other countries, Wolff stated that he is not convinced that forcing people to do something would accomplish anything. He explained that he himself decided to get vaccinated out of his own personal conviction. According to Wolff, this is an "important and complex topic" that required convincing arguments to make people realise why they should get vaccinated.
