In the last week of March 2013 the social partners concluded a series of collective agreements in the National Labour Council. Important elements of the agreements are the phasing out of the minimum youth wages (for youngsters in the age group 18-20 years a certain percentage of the normal wages was applied in the past), an increase of the minimum payments for pensioners, unemployed and people depending on social benefits, and an improvement of the position of workers that risk to become unemployed after a long period of service.
French: http://www.csc-en-ligne.be/Actualite/Communiques/detail/accord_CNT.asp
http://www.cnt-nar.be/Home-FR.htm
Dutch: http://www.acv-online.be/Actualiteit/Nieuws/Detail/Totaalakkoord_NAR.asp
http://www.cnt-nar.be/Home-NL.htm
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.