Work week reduction campaign reaches Congress
employment
A 35-hour weekly petition may be discussed by lawmakers after exceeding the 4,500 threshold required for discussion within a few days.
A 35-hour weekly petition may be discussed by lawmakers after exceeding the 4,500 threshold required for discussion within a few days.
There is a need to reduce working hours in Luxembourg above the EU average
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After ensuring sufficient support for a 35-hour weekly public petition to be filed in Parliament, lawmakers could immediately discuss the introduction of a shorter working week in Luxembourg.
In the first week, more than 4,500 people signed the petition and exceeded the threshold required to initiate a debate in the House of Representatives.
“Reducing working hours will improve employee productivity and overall well-being,” the petition claims, calling for a reduction in working weeks from the current 40-hour model to 35 hours. Added.
The government has already said it will consider allowing people to work less time at the same wage, Labor Minister Georges Engel told Congress in April.
France introduced 35-hour workweek as early as 2000, and similar plans could make Luxembourg a more attractive place to work, Engel said. According to OECD data, Luxembourg workers work slightly longer than the EU-wide average.
Working hours in an attempt to bring back employees who left the world’s workforce during the Covid-19 crisis, due to reasons such as wage stagnation and the flexibility boss provided during the pandemic. The debate over shortening is currently intensifying in many countries. Work at home.
However, several business people have opposed the proposal, including Carlo Thelen, who heads the Chamber of Commerce, one of the country’s major business lobbies. Luxembourg has had enough difficulty to attract staff without adding red tape due to high living costs and traffic problems, Teren said.
There is no guarantee that the problem will progress politically. Elected civil servants do not always make popular petitions under radar, even when the minimum signature threshold is reached.
In 2016, a petition calling for Luxembourgish to become the first official language of the national constitution received a record of breaking 14,500 signatures and met a minimum of 4,500 thresholds within a few days. However, this topic has not progressed in Congress.
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