2004 Annual Review for Belgium

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This record reviews the main industrial relations developments in Belgium during 2004.

Political developments

Regional elections were held in June 2004 for the renewal of the executives and assemblies of the Flemish, Wallonia-Brussels and German-speaking communities (Vlaamse Gemeenschap, Communauté Wallonie-Bruxelles and Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft) and for the Wallonia and Brussels-Capital regions (Région wallonne and Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/Brussels Hoofstedelijk Gewest).

The Flemish-speaking region once again saw a rise in support for the far-right Flemish Block (Vlaams Blok, VB), which has now become the second-largest party in Flanders, just behind the Christian Democratic Party of Flanders-New Flemish Alliance (Christen-Democratische en Vlaamse politieke-Nieuw-Vlaams Alliantie, CD&V-NV.A) grouping. All Flemish democratic parties, with the exception of the Greens (Groen!), have joined forces to maintain a 'cordon sanitaire' against the VB. The new Flemish government is therefore made up of: Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten, VLD), the Progressive Social Anders-Spirit (Sociaal Progressief Anders-Spirit, SP.A-Spirit) cartel and the CD&V-NV.A. After the Flemish Block was found guilty of racism, the party changed its name, and since November 2004 has been known as Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang, VB).

In Wallonia, the governing majority is now made up of the (French-speaking) Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste, PS) and the Humanist Democratic Centre (Centre démocrate humaniste, CDH). the latter party having replaced the (French-speaking) Reform Party (Mouvement réformateur, MR) and Ecolo (French-speaking environmentalists) in the government. The Wallonia-Brussels Community is governed by a combination of the same parties. The far-right National Front (Front national, FN) made substantial gains, winning 8.1% of the vote.

As for the Brussels-Capital region, the former government has been replaced by a centre-left coalition of the PS, the CDH and Ecolo. These parties govern together with Flemish groups (SPA-Spirit, VLD and CD&V-NV.A), which are less important politically.

Collective bargaining

Belgium has a two-year collective bargaining cycle, with a two-year national intersectoral agreement normally concluded at the end of even years. Sectoral and company agreements are then negotiated within this intersectoral framework. 2004 was covered by the second year of the 2003-4 intersectoral agreement (BE0302302F) and the later months of the year saw negotiations over a new agreement for 2005-6, leading to a draft accord (BE0502302F).

2004 saw the conclusion of six national collective agreements in the National Labour Council (Conseil National du Travail/Nationale Arbeidsraad, CNT/NAR), up from four in 2003. The number of sector- and company-level collective agreements lodged and registered with the Federal Public Service of Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue (SPF Emploi, Travail et Concertation sociale/FOD Werkgelegenheid, Arbeid en Sociaal Overleg) is indicated in table 1 below. The Federal Public Service reports a higher level of bargaining activity during odd-numbered years than even years, as the former correspond with the first year of the implementation of intersectoral agreements. In general terms, the number of collective agreements has a tendency to increase over time, mainly due to a multiplication of negotiating bodies and also because of an increasing number of issues subject to social dialogue.

Table 1. No. of collective agreements officially lodged and registered, 2003-4

Source: Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue.

Table 2 below lists the main issues dealt with by collective agreements in 2003.

Table 2. Themes of collective agreements, 2003

Source: Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue

Pay

The intersectoral agreement for 2003-4 established 5.4% as the 'indicative norm' for total wage increases over these two years. The draft intersectoral agreement for 2005-6 sets the indicative rate for wage cost increases over the coming two years at 4.5%.

Working time

The 2003-4 intersectoral agreement confirmed the necessity of exploiting all the possibilities set out in national collective agreement No.77, which was negotiated by the social partners in 2001, with regard to 'time credits' (BE0108360F). This is a scheme that seeks to allow the best possible reconciliation between work, private and family life, without damaging company performance. It includes career breaks and working time reductions

The draft intersectoral agreement for 2005-6 broadens the scope for using overtime, proposing a new annual limit of 130 hours’ overtime, replacing the current limit of 65. The federal government has promised to reduce the cost of these overtime hours in order to make best use of the opportunity to increase flexible working.

Job security

The intersectoral agreement for 2003-4 maintained existing early retirement schemes and company contributions of 0.10% of paybill for the training and employment of 'at risk' groups and 0.05% for the financing of 'accompanying plans'. It also promoted employment by a variety of means. In the draft intersectoral agreement for 2005/6, the social partners seek to maintain for another two years these employers’ contributions of 0.10% and 0.05%, asking for them to be confirmed by the government. In talks over the 2005-6 agreement, the social partners persuaded the government to make available the sum of EUR 7 million per year in order to enlarge the scope of the system of compensation payments for workers who become redundant because of their employers' closure/bankruptcy (BE0311303T). The scheme will be extended to smaller firms - those with between 10 and 20 employees from March 2005 and those with between five and 10 employees from March 2006.

2004 saw a number of restructuring exercises, many of which threatened significant numbers of jobs. In the rail sector, from 1 January 2005, Belgian Railways (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Belges/Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen, SNCB/NMBS) will cease to exist in its current form. A new structure made up of a holding company with two subsidiaries will allow it to conform to EU requirements for the transport sector. A new SNCB/NMBS will be responsible for transport operations while Infrabel will be responsible for managing the infrastructure. During the run-up, trade unions were concerned about job losses and a deterioration of working conditions, while the nomination of the directors of the new companies in late October 2004 proved controversial (BE0411304F).

In the airline sector, Sobelair, a Belgian charter airline, was declared bankrupt in January 2004, two years after the failure of the national airline, Sabena, of which it had been a subsidiary. Administrators sought to find a serious candidate to take over Sobelair as a going concern, but its 480 employees were made redundant (BE0402301N).

Equal opportunities and diversity issues

In order to raise net pay and avoid 'employment traps', the federal government has allocated EUR 40 million to reduce personal social security contributions levied on low wages. The government has also promised EUR 5 million to enable workers with disabilities to enter the labour market. Both measures have been endorsed by the social partners in the draft intersectoral agreement for 2005-6.

Training and skills development

For 2003 and 2004, the social partners confirmed a commitment made in the 1999-2000 intersectoral agreement with regard to extra training efforts. The aim is to increase training expenditure to the levels achieved in the main three neighbouring countries, France, Germany and the Netherlands - ie increasing the amount spent on training from 1.2% to 1.9% of paybill.

The draft intersectoral agreement for 2005-6 has reconfirmed the training measures agreed at the 2003 national tripartite Conference for Employment (BE0312305F). The social partners are also urging sectors to put the measures proposed at that conference onto sectoral bargaining agendas.

Legislative developments

A number of legislative changes were made during the course of 2004.

• In the area of maternity leave: antenatal leave has been reduced by one week, while parental leave has been increased by one week - the total duration of maternity leave is still 15 weeks; in cases of multiple pregnancies, antenatal leave used to be eight weeks, but post-natal leave may now be increased by two weeks at the request of the working mother; and when a newly-born child has to stay in hospital for more than seven days after the birth, the post-natal period of leave may be extended in certain circumstances.
• Entitlement to adoption leave has been extended (it was previously limited to 10 days), and is no longer deemed to be a form of rest-day, but as a ground for suspending the contract of employment. Entitlement to adoption leave is now a maximum of six weeks as long as the child has not reached the age of three when the leave commences. This period is doubled if the child is disabled or seriously ill. The worker remains on full pay for the first three days, and receives an allowance from his or her mutual benefit association for the remaining days.
• Under the terms of a 'programme law' published in July 2004, workers in the construction sector may exceed the statutory ceiling for working hours by a maximum of 130 hours a year during the summer, or during a period of peak activity, and by a maximum of one hour a day. These hours attract the normal wage payable at the time when the work is carried out. Workers may choose to have these hours compensated as time off in lieu, or receive an additional pay premium of 20%: when workers opt for the former, they qualify for an additional eight-hour rest-day to be taken during the six months after the overtime has been worked.
• In January , the government decided to replace the old system of monitoring unemployed people with a new one featuring an individual approach to supervision (BE0402302F).
• In March , the government approved PhARAon, a new broad-based action plan for combating work-related accidents (BE0404302F).

The organisation and role of the social partners

The four-yearly 'social elections' of employee representatives on works councils and committees for prevention and protection at the workplace were held in May 2004. Provisional results indicated that there were very few changes in the relative support for the candidates put forward by the main union organisations (BE0406301N).

Industrial action

A range of industrial action and strikes were held across the Belgian economy during 2004. In the airline industry, the bankruptcy of the Sobelair airline, causing significant jobs losses, provoked industrial action in January (BE0402301N).

In the healthcare sector, on 16 February 2004, over 10,000 workers sector held a demonstration in Brussels to demand improved pay and conditions in a new collective agreement to take effect from 2005 (BE0403301N).

In the summer, industrial action was staged by post office workers over the introduction of new delivery-planning software at the Belgian Post Office (La Poste/De Post) (BE0409301N).

In the autumn, controversy erupted over plans by the DHL express delivery company to expand its operations at Brussels airport, with a consequent increase in night-time flight movements. As debate raged at all levels of government about the environmental impact, trade unions organised a strike at the airport in October to support their call for jobs to be a major factor in the decision on the plan (BE0410301F). In October, DHL abandoned plans to develop its activities at Brussels airport. Potentially, this decision threatens 1,700 jobs by 2008. Trade unions responded with a strike and a protest march for employment (BE0411301N).

Finally, during the last months of 2004, a number of one-day strikes were held at the Brussels Inter-Municipal Transport Company (Société des Transports Intercommunaux de Bruxelles/Maatschappij voor Intercommunaal Vervoer van Brussel, 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 November, but the socialist-oriented union, the General Confederation of Public Services (Centrale Générale des Services Publics/Algemene Centrale der Openbare Diensten, CGSP/ACOD), called on its members to continue the industrial action (BE0412305F).

Employee participation

Regarding the implementation of the European Company Statute (EU0206202F), national collective agreement No. 84 was signed in the bipartite National Labour Council on 6 October 2004. This aims to implement the EU Directive (2001/86/EC) supplementing the European Company Statute with regard to the involvement of employees.

The EU Directive (2002/14/EC) on national information and consultation rules (EU0204207F) had not been transposed into Belgian law by the end of the year. It should be borne in mind that the principle of establishing works councils in companies with more than 50 workers (as essentially stipulated in the Directive) was enshrined in a 1948 law dealing with organisation of the economy, but a Royal Decree limits works councils to enterprises employing at least 100 workers (BE0309304T). Discussions on this matter take place regularly on the National Labour Council, but trade union and employers’ representatives have so far failed to reach agreement. The subject was not on the agenda for negotiations over the intersectoral agreement for 2005-6. The government is empowered to amend the Royal Decree, but has taken no initiative in this respect for some time. In 2004, a number of members of federal and regional parliamentary representatives gave their approval to the idea of establishing works councils in enterprises with at least 50 workers, and employee representatives in firms with fewer than 20 workers, but this is insufficient at present to change the situation.

Absence from work

Tackling absence from work has not been addressed by legislation or by specific collective agreements. Neither trade unions nor employers’ organisations particularly focus on this matter.

However, absence is an ever-present, albeit indirect, issue. It is mainly seen as one of the consequences of work-related stress, which is addressed by CNT/NAR national collective agreement No 72 of 30 March 1999 on the prevention of stress caused by work (BE9904269F). All measures designed to combat alcoholism, addiction to smoking and drug dependency at the workplace, measures aimed at improving workers’ conditions of employment and welfare, and measures relating to flexible working conditions and to the granting of financial benefits and leave as a reward for good attendance records are seen as capable of affecting the phenomenon of absence. Table 3 below indicates levels of absence from work in 2003.

* This is calculated by determining the number of days’ absence as a proportion of the total number of days that could be worked. The denominator is the sum of all the days that could theoretically be worked for the enterprise, in other words, all the days to be worked by the worker annually. Leave days are also deemed to be working days. Days that are given over to career breaks, or which occur when the contract of employment is terminated, are not deemed to be working days. Partly worked days are counted as whole days. Days worked by part-timers are counted as such, irrespective of the number of hours worked.

Source: National Statistics Institute (Institut National de Statistiques/Nationaal Instituut voor de Statistiek, INS/NIS).

Psychological harassment

The basis of the fight against 'moral' or 'psychological' harassment at the workplace is the law of 11 June 2002 relating to protection against violence and moral or sexual harassment at the workplace (BE0312304F). This law was evaluated by the bipartite CNT/NAR in its Opinion No 1484 of June 2004 . The Opinion sets out the social partners’ differing points of view concerning application of this legislation, and specifically the following issues:

• the employers want to abolish counsellors who deal specifically with these issues, whom the trade unions believe to be useful;.
• trade unions argue that there is a need to lower the threshold for access by complainants to the law's 'informal procedure' (the intervention of a person in a position of trust attempting to effect conciliation), in order to step up their protection. Although the employers do not question the importance of this informal procedure, they also stress the need to use traditional informal channels situated outside the strict legal framework;
• a 'trusted person' must be appointed in each enterprise, say the trade union representatives, and this person must be trained. The employers’ representatives say that the appointment of a person in a position of trust must be optional, and that conditions relating to training and experience are not really necessary;
• the employers say that reversal of the burden of proof in cases of alleged harassment should only be mandatory if no prevention policy has been drawn up; and
• the employers believe the complainant's special protection against dismissal should be abolished if a complaint is deemed to be inadmissible or ill-founded, and that the period of protection in the event of a well-founded and admissible complaint should be reduced to six months. The employers’ representatives also think that special protection against dismissal for witnesses should be replaced by the protection of anonymity.

Generally speaking, the trade union representatives call for the principles of the regulation to be maintained, while at the same time introducing some adjustments (in order to improve their application), while the employers’ representatives want the legislation to be substantially reviewed: they say it should contain fewer details so that, among other changes, resulting administrative burdens (eg the slow pace of the informal complaints procedure) may be reduced. They add that a more integrated approach to existing provisions and practices relating to prevention overall would also be more effective. However, the employers and the trade unions agree on the need to develop prevention further, even though they sometimes disagree on the means of doing so.

During the first six months of 2004, the Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue logged an average of four complaints of harassment a day, compared with only two complaints a day in 2002 and 2003. Moreover, a survey conducted in 2003 by two universities - the Catholic University of Leuven (Leuven) and the Catholic University of Leuven (Louvain-la-Neuve)- found that 11.5% of interviewees reported they were victims of behaviour relating to moral harassment. These reported victims are to be found more in the public sector than in the private sector, and enterprises with more than 500 workers figure more frequently than small companies.

New forms of work

With regard to teleworking, a non-government bill was lodged in the Senate on 22 September 2004 (DOC 3-845/1); it is currently being discussed by the Senate’s Social Affairs Commission. The aim of this bill is to align provisions on teleworking with the spirit of the law of 3 July 1978 on contracts of employment, and to adapt the achievements of this to the situation of teleworking, while taking its lead from the framework agreement signed by the European social partners on 16 July 2002 (EU0207204F). The bill seeks to clarify the situation of the various kinds of teleworking, whether it is carried out at home or in a telecentre. This should provide workers with greater protection, and prevent relations between workers and the employer being clouded by uncertainty.

Several non-government bills have been lodged in the Senate on the subject of temporary agency work, and they are currently being discussed by the Senate’s Social Affairs Commission. The most important is dated 26 November 2004 (DOC 3-937/1). This bill aims to raise temporary agency work from the status of an'emergency service' to that of a 'separate labour market instrument'. In practice, the temporary agency employment sector is seeking a balance between flexibility and security, and therefore wants to write into legislation the possibility of concluding open-ended temporary agency work contracts alongside the fixed-term contracts that already exist.

Outlook

In January 2005, after long and difficult negotiations, the 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 (see above). However, members of the Belgian General Federation of Labour (FGTB/ABVV) - one of the three signatory trade union confederations - rejected the deal in a ballot. The federal government then decided to apply the original draft agreement in its entirety.

In the spring of 2005, the social partners will once again find themselves around the negotiating table with the federal government in a forum planning the future of the social security system and end-of-career management (BE0412306F).

Lastly, 2005 is likely to be busy at a political level. (Alexandre Chaidron, IST, Catholic University of Leuven, Louvain-la-Neuve)