Every two years the trade union confederations and their counterparts on the employers’ side negotiate a general agreement for the private sector. In this overall agreement, an indicative development of wage and working conditions is formulated that is later on the reference for negotiations at sectoral and company level. The trade unions have declared that time is ripe for a serious improvement of wages after a two years’ wage freeze, dictated by the government. The leader of the trade union confederation ABVV/FGTB stated that the government’s policy is contributing to a ‘race to the bottom’ that makes employers lazy. The central economic council (CRB), which includes representatives from both sides of industry, calculated that trade unions and employers have to examine the scope for actual wage increases within a 1% margin.
English: http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/News …
French: http://www.fgtb.be/-/aip-les-negociations-ont-commence
http://www.cgslb.be/fr/articles/comite-national …
Dutch: https://www.acv-online.be/acv-online/Themas/Sociaal-overleg …
http://www.tijd.be/opinie/algemeen/Loonkostendebat …
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, Willy De Backer wdebacker@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. Since June 2013 readers can consult our archive and search through all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.
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