Editorial - A rough start to the new social year

The unions were expecting a tough start to the new year, but not a slap in the face from the outset. However, they had done their homework on the two key issues at the end of the year: the debate launched by the government on the general pension scheme and the question of collective agreements, which are still insufficiently extended in the Grand Duchy, even though a European directive aims to cover 80% of employees, compared with 53% today.

They had identified the issues, prepared their analyses, drawn comparisons and aligned their calculations. Back in the summer, the OGBL and the LCGB jointly presented their demands and red lines in the pensions debate. But in the space of a week, the government made it clear that they were not part of the equation. In the middle of a meeting of the Standing Committee on Labour and Employment, a pillar of the social model inherited from the steel crisis, the Minister of Labour indicated that he was "only there to listen to the different positions" and that "he would then take a decision alone", according to the unions' minutes. An unregulated tackle by the man who is also Minister for Sport. In the same breath, the same minister, who should be the guarantor of Luxembourg's social model within the government, ratified the extension of Sunday working in the retail sector without having discussed it with the unions.