Employers oppose compulsory commuting plans

Belgian employers' organisations have reacted strongly against draft legislation proposed in March 1999 by a christian democrat MP, which would make "company-level commuting plans" mandatory for all firms with 50 or more employees.

In March 1999, Jos Ansoms, an MP for the christian democratic Christian People's Party (Christelijke Volkspartij, CVP) proposed new legislation which would make "company-level commuting plans" mandatory for all firms with 50 or more employees. Both the central national employers' organisation, the Federation of Belgian Enterprises (Verbond van Belgische Ondernemingen/Fédération des Entreprises de Belgique, VBO/FEB), and the Flemish Economic Federation (Vlaamse Economisch Verbond, VEV) claim that the new draft law would make commuting arrangements a matter for federal responsibility, thus contravening the constitutional provision that has allocated this issue to the regional governments. The employers also strongly oppose the prospect that federal law might oblige companies to settle commuting arrangements through collective agreements. They claim that this would be an attack on the freedom of the social partners to negotiate. Several constitutional specialists have supported this point of view, stating that the law would contravene Article 23 of the Belgian Constitution, which defines the right to free collective bargaining. The new law, if enacted, would allow trade unions to sue employers for failing to negotiate a collective agreement on commuting. This, it is said, is obviously counter to every form and tradition of the Belgian bargaining model.

The employers emphasise, however, that they are not objecting in principle against company-level commuting plans. They would simply prefer a voluntary system accompanied, if necessary, by fiscal incentives - and then only if the situation calls for it. For companies located in and around Antwerp and Brussels there is clearly a need for, and advantage to, commuting plans. Yet this is not the case for enterprises located in less congested areas. In addition, the employers do not want to be the only contributor paying the bill for traffic problems in Belgium.

What are commuting plans?

Belgium's roads are increasingly prone to serious traffic jams. Good or bad weather, winter or summer, around certain large, important employment conurbations such as Antwerp and Brussels, traffic jams are becoming longer, more frequent and more disruptive for Belgium's economic life. This is creating significant problems for enterprises: employees are arriving late at work, the distribution of goods is becoming unreliable and "just-in-time" management becomes impossible. Given a number of spatial, financial, social and ecological reasons, the problem can no longer be solved simply by adding new infrastructure (primarily roads). By means of (so far voluntary) "company-level commuting plans" (bedrijfsvervoersplannen/plans de transport d'entreprise) the government has been attempting to "mobilise" more of the interested parties around the problem.

A company-level commuting plan is a plan designed by one employer, or group of employers in the same industrial district. The goal is to decrease the amount of individual traffic created by movements between home and work. The plan generally has three parts.

1. A commuting and access profile is drawn up: who is coming to work, when and by which mode of transport? What is the public transport situation close to the company? What are the key bottlenecks in terms of transport for the company?

2. A number of viable alternatives is suggested: better facilities to promote the use of bicycles; better access to public transport; and the promotion of more collective forms of transport, such as car-sharing or transport organised by the company.

3. The social partners negotiate and work out the details of the alternative options, going into the nature of the arrangements decided and defining the practicalities for the company.

It is obvious that the design of a company-level commuting plan is a time-intensive job that requires follow-up, evaluation and adjustment. In addition, it requires specific knowledge and can turn out to be rather costly. None of these issues is creating much enthusiasm on the part of the employers.

The results of a number of operational company-level commuting plans vary greatly. Some examples from outside Belgium of measures such as paid parking, benefits that vary according to the different means of transport taken and restricting parking space on the company's site have led to reductions in individual car use of up to 30% and have promoted car-sharing systems. One general conclusion, though, is that company-level commuting plans have not managed to increase the share of public transport.

Still unknown commodities?

It would be an exaggeration to claim that company-level commuting plans are widely known and implemented in Belgium. The Flemish employers' organisation, VEV, recently organised a survey amongst 30 large factories in the Antwerp region. About half the companies had a commuting plan, while others expressed a substantial interest but mentioned the following three difficulties:

1. a problem of motivating employees, who generally express little interest in commuting plans;

2. a lack of support by the government, especially in terms of adapting public transport systems to the specific needs of companies; and

3. relatively high costs for companies.

As long as these types of problem exist, it is highly unlikely that the commuting plans will have much effect or generate much enthusiasm. The VEV concluded that "the plans would lead only to more administration and empty agreements, and will not decrease the amount of traffic. We will have empty buses driving around just to comply with the law, thus creating even more traffic."

Some employers have taken the lead, however. The Flemish regional government will provide free transport for all public employees taking a train to work with effect from 1 April 1999, under the terms of a recent agreement.

Commentary

While rush-hour traffic is increasingly unbearable from an economic, social and ecological point of view, it is clear that these company-level commuting plans are not going to solve the whole problem. The key problem seems to be that about 50% of all employees live within 10 kilometres of their working place, yet 70% of all employees take their car to work. The complete gridlock on Belgium's road network, which has been witnessed over the early part of 1999, is sorry evidence of a complete lack of an integrated commuting policy by all policy levels. The economic losses are enormous and are calculated to reach several tens of billions of BEF annually. So if a rational use of company-level commuting plans can contribute to forcing a solution, one can only be in favour. (Peter Van der Hallen, Steunpunt WAV)