Unions' agenda for 1999 bargaining round focuses on working time

The central demands of the three main trade union confederations at the start of the 1999 Belgian sectoral bargaining round include the gradual introduction of a four-day working week, improvements in working conditions in small and medium-sized enterprises and full use of the maximum permitted wage increase for the 1999-2000 period.

In early 1999, collective bargaining rounds opened in most industrial sectors in Belgium following the national intersectoral collective agreement for 1999-2000 reached in autumn 1998 (BE9811252F). The three principal union confederations - the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond/Confédération des Syndicats Chrétiens, ACV/CSC), the Belgian General Federation of Labour (Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond/Fédération Générale du Travail de Belgique, ABVV/FGTB) and the Federation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium (Algemene Centrale der Liberale Vakbonden/Centrale Générale des Syndicats Libéraux de Belgique, ACLV/CGSLB) - have announced their list of demands.

Despite employers' opposition, the unions are demanding ways to reduce collective working time, with the four-day working week as a priority. They defend their demand as a means to secure current employment, to reduce job losses in the event of company restructuring and to create extra employment.

The unions are also focusing on the improvement of working conditions in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and especially those falling under the complementary joint committee which represents those not covered by other sectoral joint committees, as is often the case in SMEs. Working time reduction is a central issue. One of the proposals aims to reach a four-year agreement that would reduce weekly working time gradually by one hour every year. Such a collective agreement would be a unique initiative because its length of validity (four years instead of the usual two) would give workers in SMEs greater security in relation to their working conditions.

A problem has been that many SME employers have chosen not to comply with the current collective agreements that have been reached in the complementary joint committee. SMEs are not obliged to do so in a number of instances. Although an agreement was reached in the committee for the 1997-8 period, only between 6% and 7% of companies in the area covered acceded to the agreement. Most SMEs prefer to negotiate working conditions at company level, where unions lack influence.

In other sectors, with increasing numbers employed in SMEs, the unions are attempting to stop the deterioration in working conditions. For the chemicals and petroleum sectors, this means putting the brake on the trend to contract out certain tasks. In the chemicals sector this has resulted in dwindling employment. In addition, the chemicals industry has witnessed the transfer of a number of employees with "blue-collar" status to the cheaper "white-collar" status.

With respect to pay, the wage margins allowed for the 1997-8 period were rarely exhausted. Most sectors stayed within the permitted limit of a 6.1% increase in labour costs. The government led by Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene had imposed this limit in the absence of an intersectoral collective agreement (BE9702101F).

This time around, a pay agreement does exist. It was reached between the social partners in November 1998. It refers to a figure of 5.9% as the guideline for maximum increases in labour costs, and requires the sectoral negotiators to use the guideline responsibly and conscientiously. Variations across sectors or companies are allowed if the overall development of wages remains within 5.9% margin. The three union confederations strongly favour using the complete margin this time to provide for more training, employment and increases in real wages.

Other important items on the unions' bargaining agenda include: taking more action against illegal working and overtime; preventing ever-higher levels of outsourcing; and a review of job grades and classifications to achieve more equal pay between men and women (BE9709115F).