2023-11-22 07:45:00
Thierry Bodson, president of the FGTB, was the guest of Maxime Binet’s “Café sansfilter” this Wednesday, November 22. The two men obviously discussed political and union news and the president of the FGTB delivered the bulletin of the Vivaldi coalition.
So what grade out of 10 does he give to the Belgian federal government, as the end of the legislature approaches? “I give it a 5.5, or a 6 out of 10.” A coast which does not defeat our leaders, but which is not grandiose either.
“I don’t want to defeat them because, compared to the previous government, it’s still less serious for the world of work,” compares the trade unionist. “We recently listed the measures that were taken once morest the world of work under the government of Charles Michel. There were still 37 which were extremely serious. Here, there are still only 7 or 8 negative measurements. There is in particular the non-modification of the 96 law on salary margins, the attack on a large part of “parental leave” and the absence of tax reform during this legislature. That’s a problem for the economic transition!”
Le budget belge
The Belgian budget, of the federal state and the federated entities, might soon be revised by the European Commission. The latter’s calculations say that we are close to 5% deficits and that we therefore do not respect the European rule of 3%.
“This is not the first time that this has happened in Belgium, and we always find an arrangement,” reacts the man on the left. “In the budgetary constraints that the European Union imposes on States, there is really a huge problem. When it checks whether or not we are on budget, it takes into account part of the expenses which are in fact investment expenses. This is something that absolutely needs to be revisited. We cannot say at the same time that our societies and economies have major challenges ahead of them – such as the aging of the population and the climate transition – and refuse to allow part of the investments necessary to respond to these challenges to be excluded from the calculation. of the budget deficit. These are not expenses, they are investments. In the case of the climate transition, these investments also make it possible to train workers in new production methods. It costs, of course, but it helps businesses.”
The anti-threaters bill
The anti-thug bill essentially carried by former Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne is now frozen by the left wing of the federal government. And the union world has nothing to do with this being put in the fridge. What is this bill, according to Thierry Bodson? “First of all, it’s a completely useless project,” says the unionist. “The thugs who invite themselves to the demonstrations also disturb us because we talk more regarding them than regarding the purpose of the mobilization. But today there is already in Belgium, and this is quite normal, a judicial and legal arsenal which makes it possible to sanction these people. Our lawyers, but also those from Greenpeace and Amnesty, have repeatedly said that this law is far too vague and therefore dangerous. The Council of State agreed with us by saying that the law was useless and dangerous.”
However, it is a bill that was favored by the socialist mayor of Brussels, Philippe Close. Have the FGTB and its president changed the course of the PS? “I don’t know if it’s me, but it’s no secret that I went to the party office several times to say all the bad things I thought regarding this measure. But when we succeeded in a demonstration which brought together 12,000 people in the streets on such an abstract subject, they realized that it created real emotion and that it did not only concern trade unionists. There were young people for the climate who were present, because they knew that it was going to concern them too.”
Who wants the unions’ skin?
The question is deliberately provocative. Thierry Bodson’s response is quite clear. Especially when we ask him for his opinion on the proposal of the MR and the Engagés to eliminate unemployment benefits to sanction job seekers who cannot find work. “It’s populist. On this point, the MR and the Engagés are populist. They brush the citizens in the wrong direction,” says the union president. “I will tell you two things. The first is that we had a full-scale experience in Belgium. When youth unemployment benefits were limited to three years. It didn’t really change anything. The exit rate from unemployment to employment is 35% over time, despite the reduction in benefits. Worse still, of the 30,000 young people excluded with this measure, half have disappeared from the radar. We have absolutely no idea what happened to them. And secondly, I’m going to give you a simple figure: pensions are a budget of 60 billion. A real challenge for our society. Unemployment is a budget of 3 billion. We are not going to solve anything with this proposal on unemployment.”
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