Social partners consulted on fight against poverty and social exclusion

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At a joint session of the Central Economic Council and National Labour Council in July 2004, the Belgian social partners adopted a unanimous opinion on the latest report from the public Service for combating poverty, precariousness and social exclusion. The opinion stresses the role of the social partners in this area, and in particular in the areas of health protection and the rights to work and social protection.

In 1992, the federal government decided to launch a process of consultation about, and involving, people living in poverty, with the aim of finding more efficient solutions to the problem. The Ministry of Social Integration thus gave the King Baudouin Foundation (Fondation Roi Baudouin/Koning Boudewijnstichting) the role of coordinating a 'general report on poverty', in close association with the social aid section of the Union of Belgian Cities and Communes (Centre Public d’Aide sociale/Openbaar Centrum voor Maatschappelijk Welzijn, CPAS/OCMW) and ATD Quart-Monde (ATD Quart-Monde/ATD Vierde Wereld België). The ultimate objective was to set up a political project, which over the long-term, will eliminate poverty and social exclusion. The report was published in 1994, and led to the government setting up an interministerial conference on social integration and to the conclusion in 1999 of a cooperation agreement on continuity in poverty policy between the federal government, the language communities and the regions. This created the Service for combating poverty, precariousness and social exclusion (Service de lutte contre la pauvreté, la précarité et l'exclusion sociale/Steunpunt tot bestrijding van armoede, bestaansonzekerheid en sociale uitsluiting). The Service produced its first two-yearly report in 2001 and its second in December 2003.

The main aim of the 2003 report, entitled En dialogue/In dialoog, is to assist political decision-making. It highlights problem areas and difficulties experienced on the ground, draws attention to the 'perverse' effects of certain policies and suggests some good practices. It proposes concrete measures aimed at improving the current situation and present policies, highlights some policies that require evaluation and recommends some paths for further reflection. The issues addressed are the rights to social assistance, health protection, work, social protection and decent housing. The report's last chapter is devoted to an evaluation of Belgium's National Action Plans (NAPs) for social inclusion covering 2001-3 and 2003-5 - drawn up in response to the EU strategy in this area (EU0111101N) - in the context of the debates outlined in the preceding chapters.

The social partners are involved in the anti-poverty initiative. They are invited to participate in the debates held over certain problem areas during the drawing up of the report. Following publication, they issue an opinion on the final report, though the National Labour Council (Conseil National du Travail/Nationale Arbeidsraad, CNT/NAR) and the Central Economic Council (Conseil Central de l’Économie/Centrale raad voor het bedrijfsleven,, CCE/CRB). The governments of the regions, the communities and the federal state have a duty to debate the Service's reports and also the opinions rendered by the CNT/NAR and CCE/CRB. The Service's report should also serve as a source of inspiration for the drafting and evaluation of the Belgian NAP for social inclusion.

Social partner positions

At a joint session on 7 July 2004, the CNT/NAR and the CCE/CRB, the social partners adopted a unanimous opinion (No. 1,488) on the Service's 2003 report. The opinion sets out the partners' positions on their role in the fight against poverty and on those chapters of the report that directly concern them, covering health and quality of employment.

Role of social concertation

The social partners make a general point in their opinion that many of the issues linked to the problem of poverty, such as incomes policy, employment and social protection, are traditionally within the partners' own area of competence. They thus want to reaffirm the privileged role of the social partners in these areas: 'social concertation is often the most efficient way of putting balanced solutions into place, which take into account the different needs and interests of the people concerned in the field … From now on, they want to be associated, in a more active way, with defining the policy with regard to poverty, both in terms of conception and implementation. Moreover, they want the social partners have enough space to be able to fulfil their own role in the fight against poverty.'

In terms of content, the social partners note strongly that they are active in the field of the fight against poverty, precariousness and social exclusion through negotiated agreements at company, sectoral and intersectoral levels - and indeed also at European and world levels. The CNT/NAR and CCE/CRB have issued opinions on the United Nations' 2002 world summit on sustainable development in Johannesburg, which had an important focus on the eradication of poverty. At European level, one of the objectives agreed at the Nice European Council in December 2000 (EU0012288F) is noted: 'the promotion of the participation in employment and access by all to resources, to rights, to goods and services, prevention of the risks of social exclusion, taking of action on behalf of the vulnerable and the mobilisation of all the players'. Through the NAP on social inclusion, the Belgian social partners play an active role through two working groups, dealing with actions and monitoring.

Right to health protection

In spite of the introduction of numerous measures favouring equality of access to healthcare, particularly for the more vulnerable groups of the population - an example is the introduction of a maximum charge - problems in access to health protection persist for the poorest people, the social partners' opinion notes. In future, the social partners demand that 'analysis be carried out to determine which are the target groups, what are the supplementary measures that need to be taken in order to ensure that everyone has access to healthcare'.

Quality of employment

With regard to the rights to work and to social protection, the Service's report states that 'quality of employment' can be defined in terms of four dimensions:

• employment conditions - pay, employment security, possibility of building a career, balance between work and private life etc;

• working conditions - health and safety;

• work content - possibilities for learning, job satisfaction and advancement; and

• labour relations - employee participation and the right of expression, and 'collective concertation'.

In their opinion, the social partners reaffirm the essential importance of quality of employment, and seek to incorporate it into a quest for a better quality of life and for sustainable development.

The CNT/NAR and CCE/CRB draw the attention of the Service for combating poverty, precariousness and social exclusion to a group that has so far generally been considered as having been little affected by poverty and social exclusion - the self-employed. The partners ask that 'an in-depth debate be organised on the means which may be proposed to allow them [the self-employed] to have access to social assistance under the best conditions'.

Furthermore, the social partners refer to a series of measures that they have put into place regarding 'normal' employment conditions - eg fighting against undeclared work and tax fraud - and 'decent' employment conditions - eg increasing low wages, reducing wage inequalities, creating a new system of career breaks and managing the prevention of stress at work. With regard to work content, the CNT/NAR and CCE/CRB refer to agreements concluded on training (both for those in work and those who are seeking employment).

Commentary

The Service for combating poverty, precariousness and social exclusion performs the admirable role of allowing the opinions of people living in poverty to be expressed, when they might not otherwise be heard. Through concertation, it brings together around the same problem area the voices of people from different spheres. The social partners are invited to take part in this reflection. The result, the two-yearly report, is a tool for decision-making.

In their opinion delivered on 7 July 2004, the social partners make a point of reaffirming their privileged and major role in the analysis of questions related to employment and the fight against poverty. They do not position themselves merely as participants in the reflection but as protagonists capable of fulfilling, together with the political decision makers, the objective 'of setting up a political initiative, which can, over the long term, eliminate poverty and social exclusion'. (Catherine Delbar, Institut des sciences du travail)