In a 22 February communiqué, the ULC expressed its concerns about the impact of the covid-19 pandemic which had resulted in not just income erosion as a result of part or full unemployment, but also due to those workers’ loss in purchasing power. 

“As the monthly inflation rate rose 0.7% and the annual rate rose from 0.56% to 1.88%, in part due to the postponement of winter sales, ULC also finds an increase in the prices of certain other products, such as food and services,” the union wrote. 

Citing Luxembourg’s statistic office, Statec, it cited the price spiral triggered in part by the new CO2 tax and energy prices having risen around 11% over one month, with a diesel spike a large part of this.

Any manipulation of the price index would result in adjustment of pensions and salaries, and the ULC “warns the government that consumers cannot be burdened indefinitely with higher spending and lower income. Such a policy would inevitably lead to a social crisis.”

It calls instead for “concrete measures to preserve and strengthen the purchasing power of consumers.”