No national tripartite meeting is currently on the horizon, but Michel Reckinger, Nora Back, and Marc Spautz nonetheless accepted an invitation from RTL Radio on Wednesday morning to take part in a special roundtable discussion.
Social dialogue in Luxembourg has hardened considerably of late. The social partners are at odds on numerous issues and appear far from ready to sit around the same table with government representatives.
Yet a sort of tripartite meeting did take place on Wednesday morning on RTL Radio, featuring the Minister of Labour, Marc Spautz, the President of the Luxembourg Employers’ Association (UEL), Michel Reckinger, and the President of the Independent Luxembourg Trade Union Confederation (OGBL), Nora Back.
The Labour Minister said he is convinced that solutions can only emerge through joint discussion and debate. “I believe in the tripartite model”, Spautz stated, expressing regret that he had not managed to convene such a meeting during his first 126 days as minister.
“Where it is truly important, social dialogue works”, UEL President Michel Reckinger affirmed, citing cooperation within companies and in bodies such as the National Health Fund (CNS) and the Economic and Social Council. “But we have the impression that the trade unions no longer want to talk to us”, he said.
Nora Back countered: “Yes, as trade unions, we are further away from the government and employers today than ever before. But it was primarily the government’s policy that was the deciding factor.”
She cited constant attacks from the current coalition between the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) and the Democratic Party (DP), adding that the trade union movement felt “publicly humiliated” and could no longer continue as before.
Calling the government’s minimum wage decision a “betrayal”, Back spoke of a stab in the back, arguing that the government acted alone and presented the move as a fait accompli without real discussions. She asked the minister whether he was truly satisfied with the decision.
Spautz replied that the aim was to decide before Easter, which the Government Council did, adding that the government did not want to “drag things out indefinitely”.
Reckinger, addressing the trade unions, said: “If we want to discuss, we must genuinely want to do so and also know how to listen to others.”
Back said it is not normal for trade unions to learn through the press what the government is planning regarding the minimum wage. “We want to feel that we are being taken seriously”, she stated.
The OGBL president announced that the matter is certainly not closed for the trade unions, who do not want to leave things as they have just been decided. For her, a return to the Permanent Committee on Labour and Employment (CPTE) is still not an option, however.
As a reminder, the CPTE is a social dialogue body that brings together the government and social partners to examine labour market developments, working conditions, and occupational health and safety. The trade unions walked out of the CPTE in October 2024 to protest a planned reform of collective agreements.
“As strange as it may seem, regarding the minimum wage, I think trade unions and employers want the same thing”, Reckinger said, adding “because we are also of the opinion that on a low wage, on a minimum wage here in Luxembourg, it is difficult to make a decent living”.
Employers also know it is difficult to pay rent in Luxembourg on a minimum wage, he noted, stressing the need to “help the most vulnerable, without penalising businesses”.
But Reckinger argued that since no criteria have ever been defined – despite being required by the European directive on the minimum wage – it is impossible to say what increase or decrease one might agree with.
He said an increase would weigh heavily on the most affected businesses, noting that sectors such as hospitality and construction, where many minimum wages are paid, are already struggling. This is why wage indexation is also a problem, according to the employers’ representative.
Back rejected these remarks, calling a “policy of charity” unacceptable. Luxembourg is the worst performer in the EU when it comes to the working poor, she noted.
“The Luxembourg minimum wage does not allow its recipients to make ends meet”, Back lamented. In her view, the only alternative is a structural increase in the minimum wage, which is “not the gravedigger of competitiveness” and would even be relevant for stimulating the economy.
Spautz agreed with both representatives that it is very difficult to make ends meet on the minimum wage alone, adding that this is why the government has decided on a range of social measures.
On the calculation method for defining the median wage, which serves as a baseline, Reckinger said it is standard practice to take the basic salary, a view shared by Spautz. The trade unions disagree, arguing that the 13th month, overtime, Sunday work, and bonuses must also be included.
Spautz said that without a willingness to meet as three, it is difficult to prepare anything that could lead to a national tripartite meeting. Back responded that the trade unions would attend such a meeting. “They go to the Prime Minister but not to me”, Spautz commented.
The trade unions view the tripartite as Luxembourg’s national crisis management instrument, which has always proven that compromises are possible.
But they also made clear they will not attend a tripartite meeting convened only if a second wage indexation were triggered. “That is in the coalition programme, and we do not agree with it”, Back clarified.
Reckinger, however, called for a tripartite meeting. He argued that due to the consequences of the war in Iran, the country faces steep price rises in almost every area – a situation comparable to three years ago. This, he believes, needs to be discussed.
