Luxembourgish trade union LCGB has criticised the government’s Bill 7060 amending the leave for family and exceptional circumstances, calling it unfair.
The LCGB claims that the new bill will create unequal treatment between marriage and partnership, and the private and public sectors, denying single-parent families greater flexibility in the case of a sick child.
The trade union rejects the proposed reduction of days off in case of marriage (from 6 to 3 days), partnership (6 to 1 day), and for those whose child marries (from 2 to 1 day) or enters into a partnership (2 to 0 days). The LCGB claims that this reduction in leave days ignores the multicultural reality of Luxembourg society, in which many marriages or partnerships are celebrated abroad. This reform also calls into question the principle that the partnership is supposed to allocate, to a large extent, rights similar to those of marriage.
For the LCGB, it is unacceptable that this reform imposes such reductions of days off alone to employees in the private sector, creating a flagrant inequality of treatment compared to state officials and municipal officials. Many collective agreements risk being further damaged by this legislative change.
Regarding the reform of family leave, the LCGB was certainly in favour of a more flexible allocation of these days off, but expressed a series of reservations on the model finally adopted by the government. The LCGB wishes to emphasise that it has advocated a 60-day family leave per child per household so that single parents can benefit from the same amount of leave as couples.
The LCGB therefore calls on MEPs to urgently amend this the bill to avoid any restriction of flexibility and unequal treatment.
