Luxembourg's trade union for the banking sector, ALEBA, on Monday evening organised their traditional New Year's reception. This is usually seen as an occasion to comment on important topics related to the banking sector. In his speech ALEBA-president Marc Glesener, pictured, focused on the decisions taken by the government just before Christmas about the indexation of salaries in Luxembourg. The decree to only implement one adjustment per year, for a period of three years, was a clear gift aimed at employers. Marc Glesener calculated, that bosses would save 700 m € on the back of their employees and workers. The call for bosses to use this money to invest in a socially-conscious manner is as likely to be heard, as it is for a shark to become a vegetarian, mused the ALEBA-president, somewhat pessimistic.

Soon enough,though, small businesses will realise that people's purchasing power will have gone down due to the government's decision on the index system. As this means less business, they will have effectively shot themselves in the foot, Marc Glesener said.

Another touchy subject tackled in his speech was the pending pension reform.

The ALEBA-president is convinced that on this topic, the government and the employers are also negotiating behind closed doors. There is no clear need for such a reform, said Marc Glesener, the pension system is still financially viable in future, provided that employers channel some of their profits into the pension system.