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With a 70% majority, on 31 May the General Council of the ABVV/FGTB federation agreed with the basic agreement for the construction industry (180,000 workers). The negotiation delegation defended the result though they characterized it as “minimal” because of the wage increase of only 0.3% as of January 2012. In contrast, the increase in mobility allowances and some emprovements in leave arrangements were regarded as positive, as was the fact that the unions succeeded in maintaining the wage indexation system and the existing limits to internal flexibility. Three days earlier, the ACV/CSC federation council voted with 93% in favour of the agreement. As in between the employers’ federation has also accepted the basic agreement, the new collective agreement will be ratified on 1 June.
Dutch: http://www.demorgen.be/dm/nl/996/Economie/article/detail/1271221 ...
http://www.demorgen.be/dm/nl/996/Economie/article/detail/1272435/2011/05/31 ...
This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011.