Belgium: negotiations for the next national inter-professional agreement sticking over the salary standard

This is a key moment for Belgium’s labor relations. The bi-annual inter-professional agreement as negotiated by the ‘Group of 10’ representatives of the country’s private sector social partners, sets, inter alia, a salary increase ceiling to apply for the duration of the agreement, which is then set out for each sector. However on the day following the first meeting for the 2021-2022 that took place on 18 January 2021, the trade unions suspended negotiations en masse, and no new date for a re-start has yet been announced. At issue is the 0.4% maximum salary increase permitted by the salary standard that is calculated by the Central Economic Council. Prior to each bi-annual negotiation, the Central Economic Council compares Belgian salaries with those in neighbouring countries in order to set a ‘salary standard’, or a maximum amount of increase – that aims to maintain the competitiveness of the country’s companies. However the trade unions find the 0.4% unacceptable. “It’s impossible to negotiate adequate salaries increases from within such a tight framework,” they said in a statement issued on 19 January 2021. However employers also almost immediately warned that a 0.4% increase would not even be achievable in all sectors. Faced with the employers’ refusal to exit the salary ‘straitjacket,’ the unions left the negotiating table and asked the government to intervene. The Federal Economy Minister, Pierre-Yves Dermagne, is scheduled to meet the partners on 27 January 2021 to get them back to table for talks, which he believes should remain the preferred path.