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In August 2005, the government of Belgium's Wallonia region launched an action plan aimed at reinvigorating the regional economy. All of the social partners approve of this initiative, but the trade unions call for a 'social dimension' to be implemented in parallel to the plan.
Bargaining over new sectoral collective agreements for 2005 and 2006 had been completed in many industries in Belgium by July 2005. Pay increases were the main point of contention, but automatic indexation of wages has been left intact, as have early retirement schemes.
Bargaining over new sectoral collective agreements for 2005 and 2006 is well advanced in Belgium in May 2005. Agreements have been reached in many sectors, but bargaining has been difficult in some cases, with industrial action taken or threatened, following the failure of earlier talks over a
In January 2005, after long and difficult negotiations, the Belgian social partners managed to reach a draft intersectoral agreement covering 2005 and 2006, which included a 4.5% norm for pay increases over the two years. However, members of the Belgian General Federation of Labour (FGTB/ABVV) - one
During the last months of 2004, a number of one-day strikes were held at the Brussels Inter-Municipal Transport Company (STIB/MIVB) in a dispute over staffing levels and journey times. A collective agreement to resolve the dispute was signed by two of the three trade unions at the company in
In March 2004, the EIRO national centres in 24 European countries were asked, in response to a questionnaire, to give a brief overview of their country's system for dealing with individual labour/employment disputes through the courts, along with data on: the volume of cases; the costs; the
Federal elections to the chamber of deputies and senate took place in June 2003, resulting in the election of a new 'purple' coalition, made up of liberals and socialists. This replaced the previous 'rainbow' coalition of liberals, socialists and ecologists. The ecology parties suffered a