More than 2,000 people joined the Labour Day protest organised by the Independent Luxembourg Trade Union Confederation (OGBL) in the capital on Sunday. Police estimate that about 2,500 people joined the protest, while OGBL have stated that about 5,000 came to stand in for the index.
“We are the largest democratic association and the only real union of working people and their families in Luxembourg”, said OGBL president Nora Back at the beginning of her speech at Neumünster Abbey, where the protest march from Gare came to an end
Back accused the government of abusing the tripartite partners to manipulate the index as far as the next legislative period. However, Luxembourg’s businesses are not struggling as much as employers make it seem, she further underlined and pointed to last year’s revenue increase of the banking sector as an example. Similarly, multinationals and large supermarkets were all able to carry on through the pandemic, Back explained.
The OGBL president labelled the proposed compensation measures “charity policies” and criticised the tax credit in particular. She believes they are being used to distract from the index manipulation and therefore appealed to MPs not to support tripartite agreement.
Back concluded by saying that households are burdened with too much responsibility while businesses can profit from both the postponed index and from the proposed subsidies, which happens regardless of their economic situation.
