The decision to take to the streets once more comes the day following a conciliation proposal from the federal government in the face of the deadlock in wage negotiations between employers and unions.
A proposal that does not find favor in the eyes of the FGTB. The “plaster” measures placed on the 0% wage standard, such as the consumption check ranging from 500 to 750 euros within companies that have had good results, do not benefit social consultation, insisted the socialist union on Tuesday morning. “National demonstration in common front on 15/12 in Brussels”, he tweeted, in the process, Tuesday followingnoon. “For better wages, for lower energy bills, for fair taxes,” he added.
“The government is refusing wage increases for workers in the private sector and autonomous public companies. To sweeten the pill, it is announcing an energy bonus”, commented on the side of the CSC.
During previous interprofessional wage negotiations, companies which made profits during the Covid-19 pandemic had the possibility of offering their workers a check for a maximum of 500 euros, she recalls. In the end, only half of the workers in the private sector, or around 1.5 million people, received a corona bonus of an average amount of barely 280 euros, she finds. “The criteria for granting this new bonus are now stricter and also pose other problems,” she said.
If the amount is welcome, it only represents a “plaster on a wooden leg”, still castigates the Christian union, for whom this once once more proves the inequity of the law on the wage standard and underlines the inapplicability of this law.
The CSC therefore also decided on Tuesday, following several contacts and a national office, to carry out a union common front action with the FGTB and the CGSLB on December 15 in the capital, according to a spokesperson for the Christian union.
The participation of the CGSLB is however not yet certain. A meeting was underway Tuesday followingnoon to determine the position of the liberal union, said a spokesperson.
The choice to organize a demonstration on this date is not a coincidence, explains Marie-Hélène Ska, general secretary of the CSC. “We are organizing it to challenge political decision-makers on the urgency of capping energy prices when a European summit will take place in Brussels on the same day.”
The rally is also part of the continuation of an action plan of the Christian union extending until the end of March. The latter will therefore cover all the actions planned between now and then.
“On December 15, but also in January, February and as long as necessary, we will repeat that each month has more days than the income of many workers can cover. A gas price freeze is necessary, now!”, insists Marie-Hélène Ska on Twitter.
On November 9, a national day of action and general strike had already been organised. The CSC and the FGTB – but not the CGSLB – had already mobilized their members to demand a cap on gas and electricity prices and denounce the law on the wage standard.
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