The union confederations and the main employers’ associations, negotiating in the so-called Group of Ten, have been working for some weeks in December on an interprofessional accord (national agreement) on pay and conditions, but on 21 December they told the outgoing cabinet that there were still disagreements and that they would not reach an agreement before the new year. At the same time, the Group of Ten asked the government to prolong the package of anti-crisis measures, including the temporary unemployment arrangement, due to end by 1 January 2011. On 23 December, the government answered that these measures were prolonged by just one month.
Dutch: http://www.abvv.be/web/guest/press-releases-nl/-/press/71265/&p_l_id=13635; http://www.abvv.be/web/guest/press-releases-nl/-/press/72985/&p_l_id=13635
French: http://www.abvv.be/web/guest/press-releases-fr/-/press/72993/&p_l_id=14124; http://www.abvv.be/web/guest/news-fr/-/article/84204/&p_l_id=10624
M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS)