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In November 2001, Belgium's National Labour Council concluded a collective agreement which introduces a right to breastfeeding breaks at work for nursing mothers from July 2002. Employers must provide a suitable area for employees who wish to use this right. The agreement brings Belgian provisions into line with the International Labour Organisation's Convention No. 183 on maternity protection and the European Social Charter.
On 27 November 2001, the National Labour Council (Conseil National du Travail/Nationale Arbeidsraad, CNT/NAR) - the national bipartite negotiation and consultation forum, made up of equal numbers of representatives of employers and trade unions - concluded a new collective agreement (No. 80), which provides women employees with young children with a right to paid breastfeeding breaks. The agreement entitles the employee to interrupt her work in order to breastfeed or to express milk. The break will not be paid for by the employer, but will be covered in the form of an allowance charged to health insurance funds. The new right will apply from 1 July 2002.
Revised ILO Convention
The new CNT/NAR collective agreement brings Belgian provisions into line with International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 183 on maternity protection. This Convention was approved at the ILO's annual International Labour Conference in June 2000 and is a revision of the 1952 Convention No. 103 on the same issue, which was never ratified by a large number of countries, including Belgium. ILO Convention No. 183 states in article 10 that: 'A woman shall be provided with the right to one or more daily breaks or a daily reduction of hours of work to breastfeed her child. The period during which nursing breaks or the reduction of daily hours of work are allowed, their number, the duration of nursing breaks and the procedures for the reduction of daily hours of work shall be determined by national law and practice. These breaks or the reduction of daily hours of work shall be counted as working time and remunerated accordingly.'
The new agreement also brings the Belgian situation into line with the Council of Europe's European Social Charter, which provides (in article 8) for the 'effective exercise of the right of employed women to protection', which includes the provision that 'mothers who are nursing their infants shall be entitled to sufficient time off for this purpose.'
Content of new agreement
The new CNT/NAR framework agreement requires employers to allow employees breastfeeding breaks. The key points are as follows.
Duration of the right
The employee is entitled to breastfeeding breaks up to seven months after the birth of the child.
Duration of the breastfeeding breaks
Depending on the duration of her working day, the employee is entitled to take one or two breaks during the day. Actual working time of at least four hours gives entitlement to one break, while actual working time of seven hours 30 minutes gives entitlement to two breaks. The duration of the break is half an hour. The duration of the break is counted as part of the working day.
Exercise of the right
In order to be able to make use of the right, the employee has to inform the employer at least two months beforehand of her intention to take breastfeeding breaks. The employee has to prove that she is breastfeeding with a certificate from the public child welfare service (Kind en Gezin/Office de la Naissance et de l'Enfance) or a medical certificate.
Protection against dismissal
An employee who wants to make use of her right to breastfeeding breaks is protected against dismissal for reasons directly relating to breastfeeding or expressing milk, from the point where the employer has been informed of her intention until the expiry of a one month period after breastfeeding has ended.
In principle, the employer must provide a room for the employee who wishes to take breastfeeding breaks. Smaller employers and shopkeepers who, perhaps due to a lack of space, cannot provide a suitable area, must if necessary make their own home available.
Current state of maternity protection
The CNT/NAR also looked into the other maternity protection provisions of ILO Convention No. 183. A thorough examination led to the conclusion that Belgium's current rules on maternity leave and maternity protection were generally in line with the Convention's provisions. The most important elements of maternity protection in Belgium are:
- a ban on discrimination against pregnant women and new mothers, both in recruitment and during the contract of employment;
- protection against dismissal during pregnancy (up until one month after the end of maternity leave);
- maternity leave consisting of: pre-natal leave (from the seventh week before the expected date of birth) and post-natal leave (eight weeks after the birth);
- a maternity allowance paid by the health insurance fund during maternity leave.
- a ban on overtime and night work; and
- temporary adjustment of working conditions and working hours.
The fact that the existing rules are in line with the ILO Convention does not mean that they are not open to improvement, however. Consequently, the employers and unions represented on the CNT/NAR have undertaken to deal further with the issue of maternity leave and protection in the negotiations over the 2003-4 national intersectoral agreement.
Commentary
The fact that the National Labour Council, the most important national bipartite negotiation and consultation body in Belgium, has dealt with all facets of maternity protection can only be applauded. However, in stark contrast to this, some negative developments have arisen in this area the recent past. For example, since April 2001 women in the Belgian army have no longer been entitled to breastfeeding breaks. This right was removed by a new Act on the personnel status of the army. According to the Minister of Defence, André Flahaut, female soldiers who want to breastfeed must use their three months of maternity leave for this purpose. More bad news in this respect dates from 2000, when female gendarmes lost their right to breastfeeding breaks through the reforms to create a new integrated police force (BE0008320N). (Jürgen Oste, TESA/VUB)