Belgium - Private sector agreement goes out to consultation - January 24, 2011

The three trade union confederations have agreed a new framework agreement for the private sector for 2011-2012. A key element of the deal is maintenance of the system of wage indexation which had recently been a target of employer criticism. There is also a small additional amount of wage increase (0.3%) that is available above the level of indexation. The other main elements of the agreement, which now goes out to consultation, include increases to welfare benefits, extension of some temporary agreements including early retirement pensions and continued commitment to a very long-running aim to harmonise the different legal provisions covering blue- and white-collar workers (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 December 2010).

English:  http://www.epsu.org/cob/398

Dutch:  http://www.fgtb.be/web/guest/news-nl/-/article/102390/&p_l_id=10187;

http://www.acv-online.be/Actualiteit/Nieuws/Detail/IPA2011_2012.asp

French:  http://www.fgtb.be/web/guest/news-fr/-/article/102570/&p_l_id=10624;

http://www.csc-en-ligne.be/Actualite/Nouvelles/details/aip_projet.asp

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) 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.