Representatives of the government, employers, and trade unions met on Tuesday to find solutions to the considerable rise in energy prices. As no agreement has yet been reached, the tripartite meeting continues on Wednesday.
The analysis is the same, but the conclusions are different, LCGB President Patrick Dury said on Wednesday morning after the first part of the tripartite meeting on Tuesday.
According to the LCGB President, trade unions and employers largely agree that the current inflation rate and the explosion of costs, especially energy prices, are impacting both companies and employees. The index, Dury acknowledged, remains “the main sticking point”.
Employers would like to replace the current index mechanism with a single premium, Dury criticised. This idea does not suit the trade unions, who consider the index to be the basis of social peace in Luxembourg and the only guarantee for private sector employees to preserve their purchasing power.
According to Dury, the proposed bonus would not correspond to what people have been receiving up to now thanks to the indexation system. On the other hand, Dury clarified that he also believes that the index is not meant to be “selective” or an instrument of social policy. That would have to be done through taxes, according to the head of the LCGB.
Will there be an agreement between the social partners on Wednesday? Patrick Dury remained unsure on Wednesday morning. But he stressed that he “cannot imagine” a trade union adopting the package of measures if the bonus proposed by the employers is included.
During the financial crisis and the Covid-19 crisis, Luxembourg’s trade unions “always helped companies get what they needed,” Dury pointed out. This time, it is about supporting private individuals, their purchasing power, and social peace, the LCGB President said.
In concrete terms, the LCGB proposed various measures at the tripartite meeting to improve purchasing power. Excise duties and VAT on fuel should be capped, travel expenses should be increased, tax credits should be raised and adjusted to inflation, and rents should be frozen as during the health crisis. The trade unions would support “anything that benefits low-income households,” according to Dury.
It would now be up to the government to announce its position. Especially its position with regard to the index, Dury said, adding that it is also up to the government to provide “targeted support to companies with problems and to seek solutions at European level”.
According to Patrick Dury, the entire “European business model” should be called into question and Europe should “once again become autonomous and self-sufficient”.
Dury thinks that the issue of energy supply should also be considered at European level. The current situation shows how important it would be to accompany the energy transition, the LCGB President added. Otherwise “only those who can afford it will be on board.”
Socially, the current situation has “a great explosive power”. The housing crisis remains unsolved, and many people are still affected by the consequences of the pandemic, Dury pointed out. In this context, there could be no “one-shot tripartite”, Dury stressed. A follow-up meeting would be crucial to deal with the current problems one after the other. According to Patrick Dury, the tripartite remains “the crisis instrument par excellence”.
