Belgium’s unions’ main concerns are the new federal government’s plans for reform of the labour market and pensions. The government claims reforms are much needed to shore up public finances now and in the long term.
‘We have had the courage to take decisions in favour of the next generations and absorb the pain of the decisions ourselves. Unfortunately that has never happened in Belgium so far this century,’ says prime minister Bart De Wever (Flemish nationalist N-VA).
The unions take the government to task saying everyday people ‘will have to work even harder and show greater flexibility’.
They denounce the government’s relaxations with regard to night work and overtime, even though the 5-way coalition agreement states that night bonuses already agreed will be retained and that overtime will be voluntary. ‘There’s often little question of voluntary overtime in practice. This is simply an increase in working hours,’ says socialist trades union leader Bert Engelaar.
‘Given the cuts being made, it is mainly ordinary working people who will pay the price, much more than the ‘strongest shoulders’,’ Christian trades union leader Ann Vermorgen believes. She refers to the budgetary tables released by the new government. Reforms to pensions and the labour market should raise €5.1 billion by 2029. The government wants to raise €1.5 billion from new taxes targeted at the country’s wealthiest aka ‘the strongest shoulders’.
Over this parliament, the government is allocating EUR 4.4 billion to reduce taxes on wages and to ensure that workers have more in their pocket after tax: up to 1,200 euros extra a year for a single person on a median wage, according to governing Flemish Christian democrat CD&V.
The Christian ACV union speaks of a ‘vague promise’. ‘That is not fair, the advantage working people will feel will only happen in a few years from now. Business will feel the benefits much sooner,’ Mr Engelaar notes. Moreover, the unions fear that the government will still make changes to the automatic indexation top-up of wages and benefits designed to compensate for inflation later on in this parliament.