Rebuilding trust with the trade unions and the employers’ association was key to finding solutions, Spautz declared on Thursday morning, as he is set to take over from Georges Mischo as labour minister going forward. The position is a thorny one, as his predecessor was accused of being inadequate for the job by the trade unions and also failed to appease the employers.
Spautz’s role now will be to “reduce the tensions between the unions and the employers”, to make decisions in the best interest of Luxembourg’s economy and its workforce. How will he bring the unions, who keep making maximalist demands, and the employers, who are disappointed after two years of the CSV-DP coalition, back to the negotiating table? “First we need to talk to each other, not over each other”, he emphasised.
The new minister said the different issues would be discussed with those affected. Not only the trade unions such as the OGBL, LCGB, CGFP and the Union of Enterprises: he also intends to speak to different federations, as “the demands of these industries are different than retail, and craftspeople have different concerns to the banks”.
Why didn’t Prime Minister Luc Frieden, or Spautz’s predecessor Georges Mischo attempt this over the last two years? Spautz said he believes he has been asked to take over as he is a former unionist and mechanic, therefore he is familiar with the situation and “the businesses on the ground, so to speak”. The issue could perhaps develop differently among people who are directly involved, than “people on another level”.
The new minister was diplomatic when asked about his relationship with the Prime Minister. As the CSV faction leader, Spautz and Frieden were often on different wavelengths, but Spautz said it was “not as bad as it is frequently portrayed”.
When things have “calmed down” with “different external representations”, then the results of the satisfaction survey for the government could go in a different direction for the PM, Spautz added. However, he declined to respond directly when asked if he carried more weight in government after achieving the same score as the PM in the recent Ilres survey for RTL and the Luxemburger Wort.
When asked if the first Prime Minister to drop out of the top 10 in the Politmonitor survey is still the right man to lead the country and the party, Spautz replied: “Luc Frieden is addressing issues as PM that have not been touched for years.” As to whether he is addressing the issues in the right way, Spautz merely pointed out that governments have been toppled in France over pension reforms.
As for Georges Mischo, Spautz said they had not always agreed on points, but otherwise had collaborated in a very fair and professional way. They had always been friendly and would remain so in future.
