The so-called “Group of Ten” that is made up of representatives from the trade unions and the employers’ federations has reached an agreement that will see the scrapping of the early retirement system SWT. From the end of June no addition people will be able to benefit from the system.
Unions and employers reach an agreement that will see early retirement scrapped from 30 June
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The agreement has been handed to the Federal Employment Minister David Clarinval (Francophone liberal). The federal coalition agreement states that no one else would be able to take early retirement from 31 January 2025. However, for practical reasons the measure could not be implemented straight away as it would have meant that people already serving their notice ahead of redundancy that had plans to take early retirement would have been faced with a fait accompli.
In order to address this, the employers and the trade unions that make up the so-called "Group of Ten" have worked on a solution that in as far as possible will respect the collective labour agreements that are in force. The Group of Ten agreed that access to early retirement through SWT should remain open until 30 June this year.
What consequences will the agreement have?
Those already serving their notice will still be able to take early retirement. For those already in the SWT system nothing will change.
According to employers' organisation VBO, the agreement allows some 1,000 additional people to benefit from the system before it is shelved.
What is SWT?
The Unemployment with Company Allowance system (Stelsel voor werkloosheid met bedrijfstoeslag), or SWT for short, replaced the old system of early retirement. Older workers that are made redundant can currently ask to be put on SWT.
As the name suggests, under SWT, the employer supplements their former employee’s unemployment benefit with an allowance. This means that the person that has been made redundant receives an amount close to their former salary.
Anyone aged 62 or older that has worked for at least 40 years (slightly less for women) can enter the system. Those in professions deemed to be highly physically demanding or that are leaving a company due to restructuring can take SWT from as early as 60.
As the conditions have become made stricter, the number of people entering the scheme has steadily declined over the past 10 years.
The Federal Employment Minister David Clarinval (Francophone liberal) told journalists that he has “great interest” for the agreement that has been reached and stressed the importance of dialogue between employers and the unions, adding that the agreement shows that in Belgium dialogue between the social partners works.
He will now analyse the budgetary implications of the agreement before putting it before the federal cabinet.