Social partners welcome new agreement for 80,000 civil servants

On 29 September 2009, the Minister of Civil Service and the public sector trade unions signed a sectoral agreement for 80,000 federal civil servants in Belgium. An increase in the end-of-year bonus is the most important financial aspect. Also significant is the setting up of two bipartite working groups to tackle issues related to career management. The agreement has been welcomed as striking a balance between budgetary constraints and human resources concerns.

In the context of, on the one hand, budgetary constraints and, on the other, the desire to maintain civil servants’ purchasing power, the Belgian Minister of Civil Service, Steven Van Ackere, has reached a new two-year collective agreement 2009–2010 (in Dutch, 83Kb PDF) with the public sector trade unions. The agreement or so-called protocol, signed on 29 September 2009, must now be transposed into the statutory rules of the 80,000 federal civil servants (BE0611089I, BE0611029Q).

Financial aspects

For a couple of years, the trade unions have been requesting an additional ‘13th month’ of wages as an end-of-year premium, as is the case in many parts of the private sector. The new agreement raises the existing end-of-year bonus by €150 or €300, depending on the base amount. No other wage increases have been decided, besides the automatic wage indexation linked to the consumer price index (BE0808019Q), which was not called into question during the negotiations.

The bonus for bilingual civil servants has also been increased and harmonised.

The premium for travelling from home to work by bicycle has risen from €0.15 to €0.20 a kilometre. A special working group will investigate and develop new initiatives to encourage commuting by bicycle or by other sustainable transport.

Some small remaining discrimination based on age or related to grade promotion has been removed in the new agreement.

Career management

The agreement simplifies promotion procedures, making various provisions as outlined under the following headings.

Wild card for people without required diploma

For example, the diploma criteria will be relaxed. Particularly for some vacancies that are difficult to fill, people without the required degree shall be allowed to enter the selection procedure by participating in a pre-examination to screen their competences acquired by experience or self-study.

Revision of grade system

Promotion in the federal civil service is still strongly based on a grade system. A working group will investigate how the system can be simplified, procedures be made more transparent and the system be more strongly linked to the idea of competence management. The latter has been introduced in the human resources management of the civil service since the ‘Copernicus’ reforms of 2000 (BE0103342N). The promotion system to grade A (the highest level) will be revised and a new weighting of job functions will be developed in the other grade levels (B, C and D) based on a measurement of job content and required competences.

New working groups

Two working groups will be established, which will investigate two important, pending issues:

• the career system of contract staff, that is, the growing number of employees working in the civil service on a private employment contract rather than on the basis of the traditional public statute;

• a rationalisation of the training system. In recent years, civil servants were encouraged to follow a range of training courses, for which they obtained certificates. However, this pursuit of certificates is not considered as being efficient.

Leave systems

The agreement includes a number of moves towards harmonisation between different groups of employees, related to a selection of leave systems. The aim is to obtain more equal opportunities.

For example, both people living together in a relationship, including a same sex couple, have the right to the same rules for care-based leave – paternity leave, maternity leave or limited leave for social circumstances. However, when a person gets married, they are entitled to take four days of leave. The new agreement extends this right to persons who sign a cohabitation contract. Unmarried couples who wish to have their partnership recognised can do so by means of a cohabitation contract. A solicitor will draw up such a contract and it can then be entered into the population register in the place of residence.

Some leave systems were also different for statutorily employed civil servants and those employed on an employment contract. However, these differences have also now been abolished. In addition, pursuing training within the civil service is no longer counted as educational leave but as part of the regular working time.

Well-being at work

Telework should be encouraged more, if possible, by the development of satellite working posts. The employee allowance for the extra-hospitalisation insurance system will be capped at a maximum of 25% of the insurance contribution.

Reaction of social partners

Minister Van Ackere explained that, because of the gradual retirement of an increasing number of civil servants, the new agreement actually means a saving of 0.7% on the personnel budget every year.

The trade unions are also pleased with the new agreement, according to an article (in French) on the civil servants’ website. Their negotiators consider the two planned working groups as being a crucial element of the accord.

Commentary

The social partners describe the agreement as balanced. It can be considered as the first attempt for future negotiations in the public sector, whereby a balance must be struck between strong budgetary constraints, the question mark over the replacement of 40% of the civil servants due to retire in the next 10 years and the need to make productivity gains in the civil service.

Guy Van Gyes, Higher Institute of Labour Studies (HIVA), Catholic University of Leuven (KUL)