For Romain Wolff, social dialogue and a national tripartite are the priority of the CGFP. (Photo: Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne)

For Romain Wolff, social dialogue and a national tripartite are the priority of the CGFP. (Photo: Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne)

Romain Wolff, president of the CGFP civil service union, talks about the major issues that will be dealt with during the coming year and the major challenges emerging in the grand duchy.

What will be the major issues at stake this autumn?

Romain Wolff: Social dialogue at national level will be an important issue for the CGFP, because there is a lack of it. I know that the prime minister, (DP), had said that there would be a tripartite meeting before the State of the Nation speech in mid-October. But for the moment, there is no talk of a national tripartite. Social dialogue, which has not improved, remains very important for us in the crisis situation we are experiencing.

Remote work will also be a very important issue. It helped to maintain the country's economic activity at the height of the health crisis. But now we have to think about remote work after the pandemic. We are currently working on the subject, on a regulation concerning telework.

We are against austerity measures.
Romain Wolff

Romain WolffPresidentCGFP

The health crisis will continue to be a cross-cutting theme...

I don't know how long the health crisis will last or whether it will end. But the important issue is the impact of the pandemic on the budget. We know very well that this crisis has cost a lot of money, we will be attentive to the measures that the government will take, what it plans from now on. I insist on the fact that it is important to know what the government will do after the crisis. Will it take austerity measures to compensate for the cost of the pandemic, which is about €3 billion? I can already tell you that we are against austerity measures. During the last financial crisis, individuals paid through new taxes. We don't want this solution.

Are you in favour of an additional tax on companies that made money during the crisis, as advocated by the employment minister and deputy prime minister Dan Kersch?

I don't just want to say that we need new taxes. I'm interested in knowing what the government's intentions are now. The minister of finance is due to table the draft budget soon and then we will already see a bit more clearly. Tax reform is no longer on the government's agenda, but I think it's time to take expeditious measures in this area.

The teachers' federation Féduse/CGFP has expressed the wish to see high schools go into "CovidCheck" mode. Do you agree?

We are acting at national level and not just for a particular branch like the police or the national education system. Our position is very clear. We demand that the government does everything to raise awareness of getting vaccinated and to do an awareness campaign.

This article was first published in French by and has been translated and edited by Delano.