Another construction company bankruptcy leaves 19 staff jobless

The construction sector crisis in Luxembourg continues to claim victims, with Schifflange-based company M2T closing its doors and left due to be declared bankrupt at a court hearing this week.

The company’s 19 workers, all Portuguese, have been left without a job and “with March’s salary still to be paid”, Márcio Oliveira and Luís Pedro Alves, two employees, told Contacto on Friday, as they stood with other colleagues outside the company’s headquarters. “We are also in arrears with the year-end bonuses for 2023 and 2024, which have not been paid,” they said.

M2T follows the recent bankruptcies of Capelli Group and Farei Services, which are part of a long-standing crisis. In 2024, the number of bankruptcies in the sector rose by 27.1% year-on-year, reaching 197 companies, according to Creditreform data. This increase followed an even larger rise of 43.52% in 2023.

Alves has taken M2T to court for non-payment of the end-of-year bonuses, with Oliveira planning on doing the same. “The ruling on my case will come out on 22 April,” said Alves, noting that he has turned to the LCGB union for free legal representation. Márcio Oliveira has the same legal support, although his case “has not yet been lodged with the court,” he said.

Another important court decision will be handed down on Wednesday: the court’s decree declaring M2T bankrupt.

According to Oliveira, the company’s situation has been increasingly complicated since January. “February’s salary was paid late, we only received it on 18 March. And March’s salary is still unpaid. We’re not even going to receive it: we were told that the company is going bankrupt and no longer has the money to pay us for March.”

The letter of dismissal

The two Portuguese nationals were with four other colleagues outside the company’s headquarters waiting to be handed their dismissals on Friday morning.

“Since last Friday, about six or seven of us have religiously turned up at 8am here at the door and stayed until 4pm, doing all our working hours. As long as we don’t get the letter of release, we won’t move,” said Alves on Friday morning.

“Only with a leave of absence letter can workers stop coming to work. Without this document, and if they don’t show up for three days, they could be dismissed for just cause,” explained Liliana Bento, deputy union secretary of the LCGB in the construction sector, who was with the workers outside the company.

“The rest of the workers also showed up at the two sites where they had been working,” said the trade unionist, who is supporting the company’s 19 employees throughout this process, “to ensure all the rights they are entitled to and to help them find new employment.”

‘It can be difficult to find a job’

Alves, 42, and Oliveira, 45, started working at the company on the same day in May 2022.

“Our situation and that of all our colleagues is complicated. We’re desperate. I have three children and now we’re going to be left with just my wife’s salary, it’s difficult,” said Oliveira. Alves, a father of two, has the same worry.

“Now we have to look for a new job, but the market is unstable and uncertain. It could be difficult to find a new job,” he said.

As they already have their discharge letter, they can start looking for a job. “We still have to wait for everything to be sorted out before we can start working elsewhere, but we’re already going to look for alternatives. We need to work,” said Alves.

‘Situation is very difficult for everyone’

One of the company’s managers, who asked not to be identified, also admitted to Contacto that the “situation is very difficult” for everyone. “The case is already in court and bankruptcy will be declared on Wednesday. I feel bad for the workers who have families and need this, but I can’t do any more, we can’t do any more. […] These last two years have been very tough,” he said.

According to this partner, the construction crisis is “one of the big factors” that led to the closure of the company created four years ago. “I’m a partner, but I’m also an employee of the company and, of course, I never expected to find myself in this situation. Who sets up a company and expects it to have to close one day?” he said.

(This article was originally published on Contacto. Editing and adaptation by Lucrezia Reale.)