Comeos reacts with relief to labor deal, opposition regrets 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.

However, 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 sounds.

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.

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.