Employment Minister Kris Peeters announced that he would be submitting ten points for a labor legislation reform to the Group of 10 consultation body made up of unions and employers in a bid to make work in Belgium more ‘sustainable’ and make ‘employment agile’. His goal is to present a draft law before the summer, with or without agreement from the social partners. Unions have voiced their rejection of aspects linked with working time variability, voluntary overtime hours, and the creation of an indefinite employment contracts for temporary work. The announcement comes at a time when both employers and unions are trading blows over the failure of the previous negotiation within the same Group of 10 on the issue of the right to strike.
10 points. Libre Belgique, in its publication of 20 February laid out the 10 points for a labor legislation reform that Kris Peeters was going to submit to the Group of 10. Under the name of ‘doable work’ and ‘agile employment’ the Employment Minister is proposing the implementation of ‘career savings’, which would allow workers to save time and money (extra days off, end of year bonuses, etc.), and “facilitate their financing and their taking career breaks”, including the time between two employers; in other words taking a sabbatical leave or reducing working time.
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