Japan, Malta, Belgium

The long-running dispute over pay, hours and employment in the health and social service sector in Belgium could be nearing its end as the government in the French-speaking area of the country, Wallonia, has agreed further funding. This ensures pay increases for many workers in the sector as were agreed as far back as 2000 but other workers may have to wait longer for their increases. [Read more at > SETCA-.http://www.setca.org/code/fr/newspage.cfm?id_news=542&tors=]

The FGTB/ABVV socialist union federation called a one-day general strike on Friday 7 October in protest at the government plans to cut back on early retirement so that workers will have to retire at 60 rather than have the option of retiring at 58. The Christian and Liberal union federations were still seeking further negotiations and although they didn't join the strike call did express support for any joint action at local level. [Read a report on the strike at > Business Week->http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8D37NOG0.htm?campaign_id=apn_euro_up&chan=gb] [Read the FGTB/ABVV

The industrial relations observatory EIRO reports that a new collective agreement in the Flemish civil service includes a wide range of changes to conditions with a particular focus on measures targeted at older workers. The measures include more training and development, options for telework, part-time work in the lead up to retirement, ending the tendency for older workers on sick leave to take early retirement and more opportunities for career breaks. Pay for civil servants is covered by an indexation agreement but the collective agreement does provide for higher end of year bonuses and

The SETCA/BBTK white-collar union is again calling for strikes and demonstrations over the failure of the Brussels and Wallonia regions to implement collective agreements in the non-profit sector covering health, housing and social care. In Wallonia unions have organised a demonstration on 28 September in Namur. They argue that insufficient funds are available to cover the increase in pay agreed for the 2005-2007 period. In Brussels the unions are building for a major demonstration on 5 October in support of a number of key demands including harmonisation with health sector agreements

The SETCA/BBTK services trade union has set out some of the key issues it thinks should feature in the trade unions' demands in the forthcoming negotiations over the national agreement for 2006-2007. Above all it argues that an important theme of the negotiations should be solidarity among all workers whether currently active or not. The union's background note on the negotiations points out that economic growth is reasonable at 2.7% while company profits grew by 45% between 19 and 2004. Top managers saw their pay increase by 12% last year and a director of a company quoted on the stock

A report from the National Economic Council has provided unions with useful data to support their position in forthcoming negotiations over the national agreement for 2007-2008. Company profitability has reached the levels last seen at the end of 1980s and export growth is strong. The union also note that employers are failing to maintain spending on training and research and development, with training expenditure down to 1.02% of the salary bill in 2006 when employers should be raising it to 1.9%. [Read more at > FGTB (FR)->http://www.fgtb.be/code/fr/fram004.htm] [Read more at > ABVV (NL)-

The FGTB/ABVV union federation has released new statistics indicating the level of the gender pay gap in Belgium. Women's pay is on average 26% less than men's on a monthly basis and 18% lower in terms of hourly pay. The study indicates that there are a number of factors at work with women more likely to work part time and for small employers. They are also less likely to benefit from training. The data was collected using the website of the international wage indicator project www.monsalaire.be (FR) and www.mijnloon.be (NL) which is now available in 10 EU countries. [Read more at > FGTB (FR)-

Just before Christmas trade unions confederations and employers completed their negotiations on the two-year intersectoral agreement that covers the two million workers in the private sector. The confederations will now carry out their own internal consultations before confirming the agreement. The agreement covers a wide range of elements. It sets an indicative pay increase of 5% over the two years 2007-2008. This is arrived at following comparison with predicted pay developments in the neighbouring countries of France, Germany and the Netherlands. The agreement also lays down two €25

Unions in the Belgian federal finance ministry have come together to co-ordinate a national demonstration in Brussels on 23 January. They are protesting about a range of issues related to jobs, recruitment and organisation in the department. The unions point out that current policies mean that only three workers are recruited for every five that leave the service. This means that staff are already under pressure and that this situation will deteriorate from January 2009 when recruitment will be cut to only one new worker for every two that leave. The unions have compiled a detailed dossier of