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A new Belgian law has changed some rules governing the representativeness and participation of social partner organisations in the national social dialogue. Although rather technical, these new legal steps confirm on the one hand an ongoing evolution on the employer side and on the other hand try to improve the rules on trade union representativeness to counter longstanding criticism.
The Federal Law of 30 December 2009 on various provisions (in French and Dutch, 668Kb PDF) contains some important new measures in relation to the central organisation of the Belgian social dialogue.
Firstly, the representation of employers in the National Labour Council (CNT/NAR) and the Central Economic Council (CCE/CRB) – the two key national concertation bodies in Belgium – has been officially extended with the inclusion of the most representative employer organisation from the so-called not-for-profit or social profit sector. This sector represents a range of social services (such as healthcare, elderly care, education, culture and the social economy) which have been traditionally, and are increasingly, outsourced by national, regional or local authorities to the private not-for-profit sector. Historically, organisations in this sector have been predominantly Roman Catholic.
Since 1994, the Confederation of Social Profit Enterprises (UNISOC, formerly CENM-CSPO), the organisation representing employers in the not-for-profit sector, has had the status of ‘associate member’ of CNT/NAR and CCE/CRB, which meant that the organisation could participate in the meetings and express views without having voting rights. As of the beginning of 2010, UNISOC became a full member with one seat in both the CNT/NAR and the CCE/CRB. UNISOC integrates 46 federations and is complemented at the regional level by two regional confederations – the Association of Social Profit Enterprises (VERSO) in Flanders and the French-speaking Federation of Social Profit Enterprises (UNIPSO).
In addition, the voting rules for national intersectoral collective agreements in the CNT/NAR were amended. Article 24 of the Law on Collective Agreements (dating from 5 December 1968) states that in a joint committee a collective agreement has to be reached by all the organisations that are members of the committee. A new sub-article formulates an exception to this rule in that collective agreements in the CNT/NAR can now be concluded if 90% of parties on the employer side and 90% of parties on the union side support the agreement. In effect, this means that the new full member on the employer side, UNISOC, obtains no veto right as it has only one seat out of 13 employer representatives. The same holds true for the farmers’ organisation, which is already represented. On the union side, it means that the small Federation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium (ACLVB/CGSLB) no longer has the ability to block votes, as it also holds only one of the 13 seats on the employee side.
The legislation explained this change in voting rules as follows:
Because of the diverse composition of the CNT/NAR, it is correct to assume that the consensus necessary to reach an agreement in the CNT/NAR is available when this highly qualified majority is obtained. This small adjustment of the unanimity requirement is necessary to avoid a possible blocking of the rule-making powers of this body, as such a blocking would severely hinder the socioeconomic development of the country.
The law of 30 December 2009 also changed some of the rules which define the national representativeness of trade unions in order to gain a seat in the CNT/NAR. This national recognition is important because it entitles organisations to apply for representation on sectoral joint committees and to acquire the sole right to present candidates in social elections that assign the members of works councils and committees for protection and prevention at the workplace at company level.
For over 20 years, Belgium has been criticised by the International Labour Organization (ILO) Committee on Freedom of Association for its lack of clear and objective rules to assess whether a trade union is sufficiently representative to participate in the activities of the CNT/NAR. In recent times, this criticism has been echoed at the national level by extreme-right political parties that questioned the ‘monopolist’ situation of the three traditional trade unions in Belgium – the General Christian Trade Union Federation (ACV/CSC), the Belgian General Confederation of Labour (ABVV/FGTB) and ACLVB/CGSLB). In order to avoid this kind of criticism in the future, the federal government has formulated a range of criteria designed to evaluate objectively the representativeness of the trade unions that are members of the CNT/NAR.
From now on, to be considered a representative national union, trade union organisations have to meet four cumulative conditions. They should:
Article 107 of the new law includes trade union involvement or membership in the list of protected criteria of the Belgian anti-discrimination law of 10 May 2007. This change was made after a declaration to this effect by the Constitutional Court.
Perhaps the most important effect of these rules is that although new actors are allowed (on the employer side) or can be allowed (on the union side) to enter the national social dialogue, the powers of the dominant organisations have been reinforced by the change of the uninamity rule to a 90% rule. On the employer side, the main organisations are the Belgian Federation of Employers (VBO/FEB), the Organisation for the Self-Employed and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (UNIZO) and the Union of Small Firms and Traders (UCM). The main organisations on the trade union side are ACV/CSC and ABVV/FGTB.
Guy Van Gyes, Higher Institute for Labour Studies (HIVA), Catholic University of Leuven (KUL)