In December 1999, the Belgian federal parliament allocated increased funding for the "social Maribel" scheme, which seeks to promote employment in the non-profit sector through a reduction of employers' social security contributions. The "social Maribel" is the outcome of long years of negotiation between trade unions, employers in the non-profit sector and the federal government.
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In December 1999, the Belgian federal parliament allocated increased funding for the "social Maribel" scheme, which seeks to promote employment in the non-profit sector through a reduction of employers' social security contributions. The "social Maribel" is the outcome of long years of negotiation between trade unions, employers in the non-profit sector and the federal government.
Since 1983, a number of commercial and industrial enterprises have benefited from a scheme, known as "Maribel", that reduces employers' social security contributions for their least qualified workers. Since 1 January 1997, employers in the non-profit sector (healthcare, culture, sports, etc) can also benefit from reduced employers' contributions, on condition that they adhere to a collective agreement that promotes employment (in the private sector) or to a similar framework agreement (in the public sector), under the "social Maribel" scheme (BE9901259N).
The current government has decided to increase the "social Maribel" appropriation by an additional BEF 3 billion, and on 15 December 1999, the federal parliament thus allocated some BEF 11 billion of the 2000 state Budget to finance the scheme. Under the previous arrangements, the reduction of employers' social security contributions was contingent on the net hiring of new workers. The new "social Maribel" retains this requirement, but simplifies the list of eligible enterprises, reduces the allotted time for net hiring to three months and steps up the quarterly reduction of contributions from BEF 9,750 to BEF 12,000 per worker.
The adoption of the new "social Maribel" takes place in a context of social tension in the non-profit sector, in both the north and south of the country (BE9804233F). On 26 November 1999, between 10,000 and 15,000 French-speaking workers from this sector demonstrated in Brussels, under the banners of a common trade union front consisting of the Belgian Union of White-Collar Staff, Technicians and Managers (Syndicat des Employés, Techniciens et Cadres de Belgique, SETCa) and the National Federation of White-Collar Workers (Centrale Nationale des Employés, CNE). Their demands focused on revaluation of salaries and the improvement of quality of life through the introduction of a 35-hour working week. The SETCa-CNE front also stressed the revaluation of employment in the sector, criticising the policies of reclassifying unemployed workers from the industrial sector through the creation of jobs in the non-profit sector. Partially connected to this point, a last demand concerned an effective representation of workers in the different institutions of the non-profit sector.
For the trade unions, the implementation of a full-fledged system of social consultation in the non-profit sector would permit not only a right to review pay and working conditions through the signature of collective agreements or framework agreements and the setting up of consultation bodies. It would also permit, through works councils, a supervisory right as regards the real qualifications of newly hired personnel, which is deemed necessary to ensure the quality of services provided to citizens.
The increase of the federal budget appropriation for the "social Maribel" was presented as an "adequate response to the unions' concerns" by the three federal ministers involved: Laurette Onkelinx (employment and labour), Magda Aelvoet (health) and Frank Vandenbroucke (social affairs). The federal government expects that some 2,500 new jobs per year will be created by the revised scheme. Currently, the non-profit sector employs 339,547 persons: 215,345 in the private sector, 116,492 in the public sector and 7,710 in semi-public enterprises. For the trade unions, the government decision represents an improvement but social consultation lags on the agenda. Its implementation will be a daunting task: the sector is extremely heterogeneous and employers' organisations are scattered, of recent creation and very loosely federated in a Confederation of Non-profit Enterprises (Confédération des Entreprises Non Marchandes/Confederatie van de Social Profit Ondernemingen, CENM/CSPO), which is moreover contested by the Federation of Belgian Enterprises (Fédération des Entreprises de Belgique/Verbond van Belgische Ondernemingen, FEB/VBO). Adding to the difficulty, the non-market sector comes under the jurisdiction of three levels of power: the federal state (hospitals, nursing homes and home healthcare), the linguistic communities (socio-cultural services, youth services and continuing education) and the regions (mental health and family aid).
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2000), New social Maribel scheme introduced, article.
