Comeos and Deliveroo react with relief to labor deal, opposition and employers lament lack of activation measures | Labor deal

In a tweet, Labor Minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne (PS) emphasizes that the agreement represents “a concrete progress for workers through an individual right to training, the protection of platform workers, work-life balance and an employment booster” .

Vincent Van Quickenborne also praises the agreement on Twitter. According to the deputy prime minister of Open Vld, the agreement offers more freedom for employees, more flexibility for employers and dismissal is a springboard to a new job. “And e-commerce? here to stay. And grow”, he adds, with a nod to earlier statements by PS chairman Paul Magnette about the sector in our country.

“All our members have a digital strategy, but they lacked flexibility in work organization to offer a good alternative to e-commerce organized from abroad,” said Dominique Michel, CEO of Comeos. “The advantages of a dynamic e-commerce sector in Belgium are many: more economic added value in our own country, more Belgian jobs with fair wages and working conditions and more possibilities for local deliveries. These will allow our cities to flourish again.”

From now on, companies will have more options to deploy employees flexibly in function of e-commerce. These are pilot projects where companies can test new labor organizations more quickly with voluntary employees. “The intention is to test new work organizations and timetables through these pilot projects. Afterwards, these are then evaluated together with the social partners. This is a first important step in order to be able to adapt more quickly as a company. It is now up to the companies in the sector to get started on this.”

Comeos is also pleased that it is “evolution not revolution” for employees of home delivery platforms. Platforms can continue to work with employees as well as the self-employed.

The labor agreement also includes an arrangement for employees in the platform economy, such as Deliveroo and Uber. Eight criteria have been established for deciding whether someone should be regarded as self-employed or as an employee. All employees will also be required to take out insurance in the event of an accident at work.

For Deliveroo, this mandatory insurance is already a step forward. “We completely agree with that, because protection is the most important thing. Until now, we could not offer that insurance, because that would then be considered a reason for requalification of the statute. With this agreement, that will change,” said spokesman Rodolphe Van Nuffel.

The spokesperson is not yet able to comment on the various criteria for determining the statute. “We are waiting for the press conference for that,” it sounds. “However, the agreement does not rule out the possibility that our couriers can be self-employed. That is something we certainly welcome.”

However, the self-employed organization Unizo fears that from now on every self-employed person who works via a platform will have to prove that he is indeed self-employed and not an employee. The proposal ignores the fact that the platform economy is not a sector, but an instrument that every economic sector uses to a greater or lesser extent.

The self-employed organization also describes the self-employed organization as problematic with the individual training entitlement of five days and the provision for the communication of the variable work schedule to part-time employees. In addition, Unizo also criticizes the lack of an asymmetric labor market policy and the fact that the labor deal was concluded over the heads of the social partners.

According to Unizo, the labor deal is “insufficient to meet the employment target of 80 percent”. “We are missing the opportunity here to really introduce the labor market into the 21st century,” concludes managing director Danny Van Assche in a press release.

Nevertheless, according to the self-employed organisation, the employment deal also contains some good points. “The elaboration around the four-day working week, activating dismissal law and the transition processes are balanced and respond to the current zeitgeist,” says Van Assche.

Like Unizo, Agoria doubts whether the government will achieve an employment rate of 80 percent by 2030 with this package of measures. According to the technology federation, the agreement is mainly “kick on the spot”, which corresponds to “loss of time for a labor market on fire”. “The agreement of the missed opportunities”, it also sounds at Agoria.

Agoria lists a number of shortcomings, such as not further stimulating working at the expense of not working. “However, a strong financial incentive for people to start or stay in work – without increasing labor costs – is the main recipe for activation. The lack of courage to throw this card on the table devalues ​​this entire agreement de facto to the agreement of missed opportunities”, says Jeroen Franssen, labor market policy expert at Agoria.

In addition, the technology federation considers the measures regarding flexibility, such as the four-day working week and the right to disconnection, rather “window dressing”. According to Agoria, the agreement on competence development is also only meager.

According to the technology federation, the only positive aspect of the agreement is the possibility for the employee to start working for the new employer on a voluntary basis or to follow training during the notice period.

Voka also sees the package of agreed measures as a “missed opportunity”. The labor deal does not offer solutions for the many companies that are crying out for new employees today.

Moreover, the organization sees extra flexibility and social rights for employees, but not for employers. “Individual employees get more flexibility due to the possible four-day week, the week-to-week arrangement and the right to disconnect. But that flexibility does not apply to employers,” says managing director Hans Maertens. “These measures will not lead to more jobs, but will make work more difficult for the employer.”

The right to disconnection, which stipulates that employees may be offline outside working hours, is particularly critical. According to Voka, the regulation shows a “lack of confidence” in employers, “who are perfectly capable of organizing their work in a responsible manner themselves or in consultation with the employees and the social partners.”

That criticism is also echoed by the opposition party N-VA. “After increasing the unemployment trap last year, the federal government is now proposing a labor deal without a noteworthy activation measure,” laments chairman Bart De Wever.

N-VA MP Björn Anseeuw also remains hungry. “Is this it? It is difficult for companies to fill their vacancies and many sectors are crying out for extra hands, while more than 2 million Belgians are inactive. Where are the real activation measures? Where are the real reforms? Our labor market is on fire and the De Croo government is coming up with a drop of water.”

Flemish MP for N-VA Axel Ronse also denounces a lack of activation measures. “4-day work week and no more phone calls after working hours. With this, the De Croo government wants to tackle the acute staff shortage. I hope this is a nightmare and I wake up soon,” he tweeted.

According to PVDA chairman Raoul Hedebouw, this is a labor deal tailored to large companies, and not to the working class. “Work stress, burnout and long-term illness are skyrocketing. And what does the Belgian government decide? More flexibility,” he wrote on Twitter.

The federal government’s labor deal is “an empty box with a Walloon socialist bow around it”. This is how Vlaams Belang reacts to the agreement of the Vivaldi coalition. According to Vlaams Belang, with this deal the target employment rate of 80 percent will “not be achieved at all”. It is not the reform that is especially needed in French-speaking Belgium, the party believes. “Minister of Labor Pierre-Yves Dermagne (PS) limits himself to window dressing. No measures are taken to activate the many Walloon unemployed, so Flanders continues to pay the bills. Open Vld looks at it and is satisfied with some cocktail nuts,” says MP Hans Verreyt

Vlaams Belang is also skeptical about other measures in the package. “The right to be offline; this is nice in theory, but all that still has to be poured into collective labor agreements and that is usually a very long process. Moreover, it is a measure that will/can only apply to a limited number of employees,” says Verreyt. “Other announcements, where the government will check ‘the state of diversity and discrimination in the workplace’ – sound like veiled language and threaten to amount to a witch hunt, as we saw with the so-called ‘mystery calls’.”

“This deal goes beyond what we got done with the N-VA under Swedish. A number of sacred houses have been demolished”, Open Vld chairman Egbert Lachaert parries criticism from the opposition. According to the liberal chairman, important reactivation measures have indeed been taken. Actively guide hundreds of thousands of people who are sick, sometimes to other jobs. There will even be sanctions for people who do not want to cooperate. We will not bother really sick people, but there are many people who can still do something ”, it sounds.

The adjustments to the notice period, so that people can start working elsewhere after a dismissal during their notice period, should also keep the employment rate at the same level, according to Lachaert. “There will also be a consultation between Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels to exchange vacancies between the regions.”

Watch the HLN Live conversation with Open Vld President Egbert Lachaert here: