Joint declaration on jobs in Belgian not-for-profit sector

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Following demonstrations and work stoppages in December 1997, employers and trade unions in Belgium's not-for-profit sector have submitted a joint declaration to the Government calling for increased financing for employment.

The not-for-profit sector in Belgium has been in turmoil for several months. Following demonstrations and work stoppages in December 1997 (BE9712127N), the employers and trade unions are now jointly calling on the Government for increased financing for their sector.

On Monday 19 January 1998, answering an appeal from the unions, employers and workers in the voluntary and social services sector held a significant meeting. It was the first joint event bringing together representatives from different occupational areas who had nothing in common but working in publicly-funded sectors such as health, childcare, culture, education and training.

Together they submitted a solemn declaration on employment to the Government which denounced the chronic lack of personnel and excessive workloads which endanger the quality of services. "Belgium has reduced its public deficit to 2.4% to respect the Maastricht criteria, and now an increase in employment must be the main stimulus for an increase in family incomes", it stated.

At the end of the preceding week, the Government had decided to extend to the entire voluntary and social services sector measures to reduce employers' social security contributions - the limited "social Maribel" system granted in February 1997 to certain particularly badly hit sectors such as the care of disabled people (BE9703103N). That decision was welcomed by the employers and unions, though they considered it insufficient as it granted only a partial reduction in contributions. Protests will continue because the social partners want the reductions in charges to free up sufficient financial resources to establish a "Multiannual plan for employment and quality", which would be negotiated in the sector's joint committees.

The unions do not consider the "social Maribel" system to be a real employment policy and continue to demand the reduction of working hours to 35 a week. A national demonstration of more than 15,000 people took place on 22 January in Brussels. The day before, a symbolic rally was organised in the Rue de la Loi, a street with several ministries. Unions along with various pressure groups representing unemployed workers from Belgium and France took part.

This is the first time that the various elements making up the voluntary and social services sector have addressed the Government and the regional and community authorities with one voice. For, whatever their activities or the major differences between them, the entire sector is locked into the same contradiction: valued as a potential source for jobs in a society hit by unemployment, it has been the victim of budgetary cuts which have led to the closure of many institutions and the replacement of secure jobs by precarious ones.

The general worsening of working and employment conditions in the subsidised sector has accelerated the process of unity, leading to a joint programme of protests that have never been known before.