Belgium opens the door to a four-day workweek

Belgium opens the door to the

.

The negotiations for the reform that the coalition government is finalizing, aimed at making a fairly rigid framework more flexible, contemplate, among other things, the option of concentrating the workload in four days without the employee having to give up part of his salary, but without companies 'forgive' hours.

"The pandemic has forced us to work in much more flexible ways and the labor market should adapt to the new realities," Prime Minister

said on Tuesday .

"This reform seeks to make workers and companies stronger and for the economy to be more durable, innovative and digital", he explained in an appearance in which he broke down the details of a four-pillar reform: flexibility, training, change of employment and precisely digitization.

The star measure is the four-day week, an option that has been tested experimentally in other countries, such as Finland.

In Belgium there are already different formulas for workers who have been in a company for a long time, and it is not unusual for parents to

when they accumulate seniority, since schools usually contemplate a day of only morning hours.

With this reform, in which there is a principle of agreement between the seven members of the federal coalition, the workers could request to concentrate their hours in four days and not five.

The spirit is to give more freedom to each specific case.

That the workers, the families, can reconcile more and better.

The current framework contemplates very solid but rigid contracts,

.

With the changes, in addition to the teleworking options, it would be sought that an employee can work more hours one month, if they so wish, to have free time the next, if both parties agree.

The last two years have shown that working from home, changing shifts, parties, was possible and was not detrimental to the company or the income statement.

And the Government wants this to become more and more the norm, and not the exception.

Not giving more power to companies, especially large ones, to establish random shifts, but rather

, who can request to benefit from this new regime.

The company can reject it, but it will have to explain in writing in each case, indicating why it does not think it is possible.

And with arguments good enough to resist a trial, if the unions want to put up a fight.

The 'burden of proof' thus falls on the other side, as explained on Tuesday by the socialist

, Minister of Labor and one of the three vice presidents of the coalition.

Not everyone is satisfied with the result, which does not shorten the week, but concentrates it.

"Life as parents is already a race against time between work hours, school, day care, children's activities," lamented

, director general of the Ligue des Familles.

"With a working day of 9.30 hours each day, not counting lunchtime, it would further increase the difficulties or even make it impossible to drive and pick up your children from school or nursery," he pointed out.

They, like the unions, fear that this presumed right of the worker will become a resource for the companies, making conciliation more difficult 80% of the week.

Belgium's employment rate (for people between 20 and 64 years old) is 71.4%, somewhat below its neighbors, and the objective set by the Executive is

.

The contracts protect employees in the country reasonably well, with a legal minimum wage of around 1,600 euros per month and just under 20,000 euros per year.

And, despite this aforementioned framework, there are all kinds of figures contemplated in the laws, from student contracts to all kinds of internships.

But when trying to adapt to the new realities or the digital economy, the problems were constant.

A recent example is the judicial decision that paralyzed the Uber service for a few weeks, as the legislation was not updated.

This reform, which should be approved shortly, contemplates changes in the 2006 Law to detail much more precisely whether food or service deliverers, connected to customers through an application, are self-employed or, on the contrary, must benefit from an employment contract. , in line with a recent proposal presented by the European Commission, but which has not been approved at the community level.

Another of the ideas that has caused the most noise in the debates of these weeks is

, which has been a reality for Belgian officials since February 1.

With the approved changes, bosses can't contact their staff outside of business hours, except in "exceptional circumstances."

And now we want to see how to apply something similar in the private sector, recognizing from the beginning however that the conditions are drastically different from one sector to another.

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