Burger King, revamped school, economic growth

Burger Brands Luxembourg has opened its first Burger King fast food restaurant, in the capital’s Gare district. Burger Brands Luxembourg said it would develop both the Burger King and Quick brands in Luxembourg; it bought the master franchise rights in September 2016. The Burger King location was converted from a Quick restaurant; the company added 50 (mostly part-time) jobs to the 24 employees who already worked there.
The renovated Athénée high school building was formerly inaugurated. The 23,000m2 building first opened in 1964, and was refurbished between November 2013 and January 2017. Following the €95.2 upgrade, the school’s heating consumption is expected to be cut by more than half.
Luxembourg’s economy is forecast to have grown 4.2% in 2016, and to rise 4.4% in 2017 and 5.2% in 2018. That is according to government projections, delivered to parliament on Tuesday.
Four firms are expected to take advantage of the government’s short-time jobs support scheme in May. 188 out of the companies’ collective 606 employees will work part-time, with the state topping up salaries. This is the programme’s lowest usage rate since before the economic crisis in 2008.
30 employees of the shuttered Alfa Hotel have still not been paid, according to the OGBL trade union. All 74 staff members have been without work since the hotel abruptly closed on 15 March in the wake of a multi-million-euro legal dispute between the building’s owner, the company that ran the hotel, and the global Mercure hotel brand. The trade union says it will lodge a complaint over the missing pay with the labour inspector (ITM).