Due to sector-specific financial problems regarding the social benefit system, the textiles sector concluded a national collective agreement on 30 November 2006 – well before the other sectors had done so and in advance of the national intersectoral ‘pace-setting’ agreement being finalised. Another unusual feature of the collective agreement in the textiles sector is that it covers a four-year period rather than the normal two years.
Context
After a brief recovery, Belgium’s textiles sector has once again experienced difficult economic times during 2005 and 2006. Following years of restructuring, downsizing and delocalisation, the sector has increasingly been transformed into an industry specialising in high-tech market niches (BE0009325N). In 2005, 34,000 people were employed in the country’s textiles sector, in around 900 establishments, mainly in the Flemish provinces. This compares with 66,000 people who worked in the sector in 1980.
Sectoral welfare funds
Due to the extensive restructuring in the sector, the sectoral welfare funds, managed by the social partners, have been experiencing financial difficulties. These bipartite funds are set up – as in other joint committees – to finance and distribute additional social benefits. Two such funds exist in the joint committee 120 (in Dutch, 8.5Kb PDF), covering blue-collar workers in the Belgian textiles sector. The Sector Fund for Social Security (Fonds voor bestaanszekerheid) pays out additional benefits for textile workers who opt for early retirement. The Guarantee and Social Fund (Garantie- en Waarborgfonds) is responsible for the payment of a range of additional benefits (see table). The network of trade union offices plays a role in the administrative handling of these payments; as a result, most textile workers are members of a trade union. The funds are financed through employer contributions, which are calculated as a percentage of the worker’s gross wage.
Additional social benefits provided to blue-collar workers in textiles sector
Overview of benefits in sector committee 120 | Benefit | Description |
| Additional premium when temporarily unemployed | Being ‘temporarily unemployed’ means that one’s employment contract is suspended. This arrangement exists only for blue-collar workers. Reasons can be technical (for example, machine problems) or economically related. The latter are defined by the employers, but have to be reported to the National Employment Placement Service (Office National de l’Emploi/Rijksdienst voor Arbeidsvoorziening, RVA). Only unionised workers are entitled to receive this premium when temporarily unemployed. |
| Additional end-of-year premium | The official name given to this benefit is the ‘additional holiday premium’; every textile worker who has worked the previous year in the sector is entitled to this premium. |
| Training | This refers to costs of training related to a company training plan and agreed to by the unions. |
| Social guidance | Provided to workers who are affected by collective dismissals or downsizing; additional unemployment benefit is offered for a period ranging from four months to almost 10 years, based on the criteria of age and reason for dismissal. |
| Trade union education | The wages of trade union representatives during union training (12 days over a four-year period) are refunded to the employer. |
| Payment of additional holiday premium due to seniority | Amounting to one day after 20 years’ seniority in the same company; two days after 25 years in a company. |
| Trade union premium | Union membership dues are partly reimbursed by the fund. |
Note: Benefits concern blue-collar workers who are covered by sector committee 120.
Source: ACV-Textura
Provisions of new collective agreement
The extensive downsizing and restructuring that has taken place in the textiles sector has meant that the aforementioned welfare funds are subject to less income and greater expenses. In an effort to tackle the resulting financial problems being faced by the funds and to create a climate of increased financial security and social peace, trade unions and employer organisations in the textiles sector decided to conclude a four-year collective agreement (in Dutch, 318Kb PDF) for the sector in November 2006. Normally, sectoral collective agreements in Belgium cover only a two-year period and follow the conclusion of the national intersectoral agreement. This intersectoral agreement was only concluded in December 2006, a month after the textiles agreement had been signed.
The collective agreement for the textiles sector addresses the problem of the welfare funds’ financial difficulties through a moderation of wage increases in the four-year period. The employers’ contribution to the funds will be raised by 1.67% of the total labour costs. Of this increase, 1% will be financed by not granting half of the first automatic wage indexation in the sector to workers. As in many other sectors in Belgium, textile workers get an automatic pay rise of 2%, when the so-called ‘health index of consumer prices’ has risen by 2%; for example, in September 2006, this index rose by 2% following the previous 2% rise in July 2005. Thus, half of the impending pay rise in the textiles sector will not be granted to workers, but will instead be defined as a solidarity contribution to the sectoral welfare funds. In return, the benefits paid by the funds are to be extended.
Other main provisions of the signed collective agreement are as follows:
- Purchasing power – besides the prolongation of the automatic indexation system, only an indirect pay increase is foreseen: namely, the granting of meal vouchers (cheques which can be used in a wide range of stores).
- Early retirement – the existing possibilities for early retirement are to be extended, as long as they are not in conflict with the new legal rules set by the Generation Pact.
- Employment security clause – collective dismissals due to economic or technological reasons can only be implemented in consultation with the local union representation.
- Time credit – workers can take up to a maximum of five years’ career break (possibly spread out over time as a reduction in working weeks). People doing shift work will face additional constraints in taking up this kind of time credit.
Guy Van Gyes, Higher Institute for Labour Studies (HIVA), Catholic University of Leuven