A general strike is no small matter in Luxembourg’s history and collective imagination. Mentioning it takes us back to 31 August 1942, when a general strike was launched in Wiltz to resist the forced conscription of Luxembourgers into the Wehrmacht by the Nazi occupiers. More recently, Luxembourg experienced another general strike on 5 April 1982. Organised by the fledgling OGBL--the trade union was founded in 1979--this mobilisation was directed against a CSV-DP government--yet again--against the backdrop of the devaluation of the Luxembourg franc imposed by Belgium and suffered by Luxembourg on 22 February 1982. This devaluation led the government to freeze indexation. This was followed by demonstrations on 29 March and a general strike on 5 April. A story that served as the basis for Andy Bausch’s film Streik!, released in 2016.

Absolute defence of the National Insurance Scheme

The trade unions are not yet at the stage of invoking the spirits of their forebears, but the subject is becoming less and less of a taboo. Speaking to OGBL members gathered at Neumünster Abbey, the general secretary Nora Back believed that a general strike was inevitable if this “government, the most hostile to workers in recent decades”, persisted in its determination to undermine workers’ rights, tamper with the pension system and privatise the health service – a move which, in her view, would lead to the creation of a “two-tier healthcare system”.

The national president of the LCGB, Patrick Dury is on the same wavelength. If these policies are confirmed, the OGBL-LCGB Union will launch an ‘unprecedented’ information and mobilisation campaign in Luxembourg and the Greater Region. And if the government persists, a general strike will be inevitable. Patrick Dury calls on the Prime Minister Luc Frieden to ‘defuse this explosive situation’.

Against a backdrop of escalating tensions

The trade unions are setting the bar very high for the government and their members.

Nora Back is calling for--indeed, demanding--an immediate increase in the minimum living wage of €300, a reduction in working hours with full pay, a sixth week of paid holiday, and a tax reform in which capital is taxed at the same rate as labour, as well as the introduction of co-determination within companies. On the housing front, she is calling for a real cap on rents, a tax on speculators and a massive programme of public housing construction.

For his part, Patrick Dury criticises the growing divide between the private sector and the civil service. “The gap between the private sector and the civil service is widening. Private-sector workers bear the full burden of unemployment and illness, even though they are the ones who create the country’s wealth. This policy divides society and is leading us towards a situation similar to that in Qatar, with a privileged minority and a struggling majority.” He rejects any further pension reforms, wants a structural increase in the minimum wage rather than “a simple indexation or a biennial adjustment”, secure jobs, strong public services and a socially just ecological transition.

As the tripartite energy talks draw nearer, with the first meetings between the government and the social partners scheduled for as early as 6 May, will the temperature have dropped by then?

For the record, in 1982, the trade unions failed to force the government to back down.