Volunteer employees can, on condition, work nine o’clock in four days, instead of eight hours a five. The flexibility of the federal government’s labor market aims to increase the employment rate of Belgians.
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The principle was poured into a law since 1921 and, for the Belgian trade unions, it was so intangible that it still appears in the pediment of some of their buildings, the “houses of the eight hours”. A global agreement, presented on Tuesday, February 15 and concluded between the seven parties of the federal government led by Alexander de Croo, shattered this dogma, with the downstream of the socialist left: the daily working time can now reach nine hours thirty.
In exchange, the four-day week will be established for volunteers. Provided that their boss marks his agreement – or motivates his refusal. Provided that the organization of the company is not compromised. A worker can also ask to work longer for a week, in order to lighten his charge of the following week.
The goal? Officially, better harmonize professional life and privacy. “This does not answer the current challenges and other means would have been more respectful of family constraints, such as a better paid parental leave,” the families’ league immediately replied. According to this lobby, a working day at nin thirty hours will only increase family constraints, for the management of children in particular.
New schedules for e-commerce
The government project is, in fact, in a larger framework: the coalition of the Liberal Prime Minister intends to increase the employment rate of the Belgians 80%. He is currently stagnating under the 70% mark. To achieve the fixed goal – which is primarily to support a pension plan in unstable equilibrium -, it would be necessary to put 670,000 people at work. Currently, the Kingdom has 300,000 vacant job seekers and some 400,000 long-term patients.
The number of these continues to increase in recent years because of the sharp rise in burn-out cases, the professional burnout syndrome. Unions, which – like bosses – will have to give their opinion on the project, are gloomy. They find, indeed, that their political relays have also given way to the principle of new schedules for e-commerce. Companies will be able to launch “experiments” working between 20 hours and midnight, with the approval of a single union organization, even minority.
This “framed flexibility” would probably be better accepted if a clearer status was introduced for platform workers. Uber drivers or Deliveroo delivery managers should, certainly, benefit in the future of insurance against the risks of accident, but their possible status of employee is far from being acquired. As for the fight against abuse in the sector, it is still a pretty vague government promise.