Walloon region makes contribution to Federal Government's employment plan

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At the beginning of March 1998, the Walloon regional government published its blueprint for the training and integration into the labour market of target groups. This project, approved for the most part by the social partners, represents the regional contribution to the Belgian Government's federal employment action plan, to be presented at the June 1998 European Council summit in Cardiff.

All the EU Member States have been drawing up national employment action plans based on the EU Guidelines for Member States' employment policies 1998, following the Luxembourg"employment summit" in November 1997 (EU9711168F). The plans are due to be submitted to the Cardiff European Council in June 1998. In order to define the guidelines for employment policies in Belgium, the Federal Government invited contributions from the country's regional and local authorities on the problem of employment. The first part of these contributions was to cover plans for the training and integration of target groups into the labour market, whilst the second was to cover the reduction of labour costs. Each level of government not only has its own competence in these areas but also its own views on how to deal with them. This record covers the contribution from Wallonia- see also BE9803230N and BE9803136N.

In Belgium, employment and vocational training come under the aegis of the regions whilst finance, taxation and social security are federal responsibilities. However, these matters are linked in practice because collective agreements for 1997-8 grant reductions in social contributions to firms which redistribute jobs in order to encourage training and employment (BE9706205F). In practice, specific regional plans and national programmes overlap to such an extent that, as underlined by P Beaussart, general secretary of the Walloon Union of Enterprises (Union Wallonne des Entreprises, UWE), it becomes quite impossible for the head of a firm to tell which form of aid to choose.

This is why the social partners in Wallonia, meeting in the Economic and Social Council of the Walloon Region (Conseil Economique et Social de la Région Wallonne, CESRW), a tripartite regional consultative body, believe that the current initiative is a unique opportunity to survey the existing measures in the field of training and integration and to sort them out. The partners agree with the Walloon Employment and Training Minister, J-C Van Cauwenberghe, that in Wallonia the range of training and integration plans used covers between 12% and 15% of job seekers (according to the Walloon authorities' own sources). However, the Minister regrets that Walloon employers invest less in training than do employers in Flanders. Sharing his regret are P Carlino and JC Vandermeeren, Walloon union representatives respectively from the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (Confédération des Syndicats Chrétiens/Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond, CSC/ACV) and the Belgian General Federation of Labour Fédération Générale du Travail de Belgique/Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond, FGTB/ABVV). The FGTB/ABVV representative added that "enterprises must commit themselves and not just cash in on state subsidies." On the other hand, UWE maintains that in Wallonia training expenditure accounts for 1.12% of the paybill, which it says is average in Europe.

The Walloon employment and training plan

The Walloon plan for employment and training to be discussed by the social partners is in fact a combination of measures at a variety of levels, including national, sectoral and regional. It uses the guidelines defined in the "declaration of Walloon employment policy", adopted by the Walloon Parliament and approved by the CESRW in 1997, before the Luxembourg summit. The plan has five parts.

• Better targeting of training and integration measures for young job seekers. The region wants to favour this group, of which Wallonia has 47.7% of the national total. Encouragement must be given to training within enterprises, training in the creation of enterprises, language training and vocational training. The Walloon Government is also asking the Federal Government to improve help for long-term unemployed people under the "unemployed support plan" (Plan d'Accompagnement des Chômeurs, PAC) . Both young and long-term unemployed people must be encouraged to go on training courses or look for jobs more quickly.
• Developing training and integration into firms by fixing quantified objectives. These measures assume regional participation in, or aid for, the training projects managed by individual sectors and are aimed at reinforcing existing plans: in 2001, the aim is to achieve 6,000 training contracts involving work/training courses, 10,500 apprenticeship contracts and 8,000 specific work-oriented training contracts. These objectives are considered too ambitious by employers because, according to Mr Beaussart of the UWE, firms "must take account of the economic climate and of decisions at national level". This is the reason why the organisation of Walloon employers did not entirely approve the government plan.
• Developing training in new technologies. The region had already decided to invest BEF 1.4 billion in the development of telecommunications.
• The fourth part was not approved by the CSC/ACV and FGTB/ABVV representatives: it consisted of a proposal to introduce "training cheques"for small and medium-sized enterprises to encourage them to organise training by partly subsidising its cost. Furthermore, the unions rejected the proposed creation of "service coupons" as pay for a range of jobs in housework and care.

The fifth and last part is specific to the Walloon region, and differs from that for the Flemish region and the Federal Government. It involves aid for experiments in the reduction of working hours to create jobs. The Walloon region has declared its readiness to give a subsidy of about FEB 4,000 per employee to compensate for wage losses in firms that reduce working hours to 32 hours a week in order to create jobs. In the Flemish region, the main emphasis is on encouraging worksharing, with a FEB 5,000 subsidy being provided to workers who give up full-time posts for part-time ones or opt for career breaks. In practice, only one firm in Wallonia - the specialised nail factory, Yvens-Decroupet- has tried the experiment and recruited five persons with the help of regional aid.

Commentary

The Federal Government will have the last word. The Walloon plan submitted to the Prime Minister has not been endorsed by the regional social partners. However, they have minimised their disagreements and expect the negotiations taking place at federal level between the social partners and the Government to produce the means of achieving the objectives: unlike the president of the Flemish employers' association, the Flemish Economic Association (Vlaams Ekonomisch Verbond), for the Walloon social partners there is no question of the negotiation of a separate social agreement if the national agreement does not produce a sufficient reduction in labour costs. At the Walloon level, the Government and the social partners within the Economic and Social Council want strictly to respect areas of competence and avoid any questions which could jeopardise social security, which is still run at national level. (Philippe Dryon and Estelle Krzeslo, Point d'Appui Travail Emploi Formation - ULB)