Prolonged union protests in the social sector lead to promises for the future

Several years of failed negotiations and protests by workers in Belgium's "social sector" have culminated in what has been called "white anger". In December 1997 and March/April 1998, the sector's employees renewed their efforts to bring their problems to the attention of politicians and the public at large. It seems that continuing protests have led to results this time, with more resources - financial and other- being promised to relieve some of the tensions.

The social sector in Belgium

The "social sector", which has also been labelled the "care", "social-profit" or "quartiary" sector, is of growing importance for the Belgian economy in terms of employment. About 10% of all paid employees and 7.9% of the self-employed work in this sector, which includes voluntary and social services. Since the mid-1980s, the sector has witnessed a growth of employment of about 25%. A further steady increase in employment is expected as the population grows older and other client groups receive more services. This sector also has a number of typical features in its employment structure: about 80% of all employees are women, in contrast to about 40% amongst the general labour force, while a fairly high degree of flexibility characterises work organisation in the sector - weekend work, shiftwork and changing work schedules are typical.

As a specific part of a growing "service-oriented" economy, the social sector has grown not only in economic terms but also in social importance. With the continued ageing of the population and the increasing need for social and other care outside of the traditional family environment, this sector fulfills an important function. In addition, an investigation amongst its members by the Christian National Union for Salaried Employees (Landelijke Bedienden Centrale-Nationaal Verbond van het Kaderpersoneel, LBC-NVK) has revealed that, given shortages of employees and financial means, minimal care cannot always be provided in conditions acceptable to both care givers and care receivers. The financial and employment situation in the social-profit sector becomes, according to some, a sort of litmus test for Belgian society in assessing the fairness of its distribution of means and responsibilities.

One of the difficulties for employers as well as employees in this sector is the distribution of administrative and financial responsibility for different parts of this sector across different political levels. The Belgian Federal Government is responsible for hospitals and homes for older people, whilst the regions are responsible for youth care, care for disabled people, family care and home care for older people. This means dealing with different budgets and hence different budgetary frameworks.

Current wave of white anger

After months of rather fruitless negotiations and numerous indications from the unions that the employment situation in the sector was not tolerable any longer, union representatives and members took their issues on to the streets in December 1997 (BE9712127N) and March/April 1998, in what was described as a mood of "white anger" (Witte woede). Several large demonstrations took place in different Belgian towns (BE9712225N).

The main demands of the (generally) united trade unions were:

• the general introduction of a 35-hour working week;

• a significant reduction in workloads;

• elimination of the sometimes inexplicable pay differentials between different parts of the sector;

• new system for end-of-career regulations, such as early retirement and so on;

• more opportunities for continuing training; and

• elimination of precarious forms of employment contract (such as temporary and low-paid contracts).

The most important demand concerned increasing employment in the sector. The initial demand for 71,000 new jobs over a period of five years (an increase of 30%) was called completely unrealistic by the political world. During negotiations with the Belgian Government, between 23,000 and 24,000 new jobs were promised. Important for the trade unions was the fact that these new jobs would go towards expanding existing jobs in the sector and not towards newly designated jobs, as the Government partially wanted to do. The means of creating these jobs is primarily through the Maribel system of reductions in employers' social security contributions in exchange for new recruitment (BE9801131N). As part of the agreement, the Maribel system will be expanded and enlarged by improving the financial incentives for new employment. The total cost of this operation is estimated at BEF 9.1 billion. Further measures to create employment will cost about BEF 3.8 billion.

Regional differences

The debate about the social-profit sector has also a number of regional aspects. Some of these are linked to the different make-up of the sector in Flanders and Wallonia. One important difference is that the sector is much more dominated by the private sector in Flanders but more by the public sector in Wallonia.

Situation in Flanders

Given the fairly good results of the Flemish budget (a surplus in 1997) some extra financial assistance was available for those parts of the social sector falling under Flemish jurisdiction. An additional BEF 3 billion was at the disposal of Minister Martens. His initial proposal, to divide this budget increase between BEF 2.5 billion for new tasks in the social sector and BEF 500 million to decrease the workload in the sector, was deemed totally unacceptable by union representatives since more money for new employment was at the top of the negotiations agenda. These negotiations have changed the distribution of funds and have produced new funds. A total of BEF 1.87 billion will be invested in new social services and BEF 1.3 billion for additional employment in existing services.

The specific allocation and use of the funds will be decided through further social bargaining on the various bipartite committees in the sector and the wider social negotiations for the 1999-2000 period. A total of 4,000 new jobs are to be created with the newly available means.

Situation in Wallonia

The budget in the south does not allow for the same extra means, according to the relevant government departments. Minister Taminiaux made clear that there were funds only for three priorities: severely disabled people; services for families and older people; and support for family-planning centres. Even after prolonged union protests, not much changed in the Minister's plans. An additional BEF 1.5 billion have been made available, but (almost) exclusively for his priorities.

Commentary

"White anger" appears to have cooled for the moment. The current agreements are seen as the minimum acceptable on the Flemish side and at the national Belgian level. Reactions are, however, less tolerant on the Wallonian side. Problems remain in the social-profit sector, however. As needs and employment are projected to rise in this sector, political debate is required about its role in society. This includes a discussion about the quality of the services, the quality and quantity of employment, remuneration and so on. The current solution has opened the door for this debate but has not offered a long-term vision for discussion. (Hans Bruyninckx, Steunpunt WAV)