Next Friday, in Brussels, there will be a national demonstration by the socialist trade union federation FGTB/ABVV. The reason is the national wage negotiations that are completely stuck due to a legal limitation on the increase of wages. This year and next, wages should not rise by more than 0.4% on top of the indexation. However, the automatic indexation of wages does not follow real inflation. Thousands to tens of thousands are expected to attend the demonstration this Friday.
Energy prices are skyrocketing. Natural gas costs almost 50% more than a year ago: more than €130 extra on the annual bill. Electricity is 17% more expensive than a year ago, beating the historical record. Fuel has increased by 15% in one year. Bread, cereals, housing…. With the exception of a peak in 2017, the cost of living has not been so high in ten years. In August, inflation in Belgium was 2.73% compared to August last year.
And our wages? They are not following! In fact, wages for new hires are 2.4% lower today than they were in 2019, before the COVID crisis. In the banking sector, there is a decline of 3.7%.
In the spring we went on strike against the scandalous wage norm of 0.4% on top of the indexation for this year and next year. This wage norm is a diktat from the bosses imposed by their lap-dogs in government. With prices rising so fast, we are reminded that wage indexation does not follow the real increase in our costs. The ‘smoothed health index’ has risen by only 2.3%, while inflation is 2.73% and for the poorest quarter of families even 2.88%. For those families, energy and rent weigh much more heavily.
The Dehaene I and II governments of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats imposed the health index in 1994. They removed tobacco, alcohol and fuel from the basket of products used to calculate the index. This was followed by the law on the wage norm in 1996. The index was then further undermined by the ‘smoothed health index’ and various manipulations of the basket. The price of electricity now makes up only about 3% of the price index and housing 17%. The 1996 wage law imposed a straitjacket that only benefits the bosses. The national wage negotiations proved this once again.
For a union strategy based on struggle
Negotiating a wage norm of 0.4% is pointless. The FGTB/ABVV is right to demand a thorough revision of the wage law. The law proposal of the PTB/PVDA and the late Marc Goblet (PS) proposes an indicative instead of a binding wage norm. That is not enough, but even to obtain this it would require a tough fight.
If we fight, we can win. Healthcare recently received more resources. It is not enough after decades of shortages, but it is a step forward that was made possible by the struggle, in particular of the action network ‘La Santé en Lutte’ (‘Health in struggle’). In 2018, the government’s attack on pensions was stopped after a massive demonstration with 80,000 participants, a success that was prepared with a ‘Pension paper’ produced by the unions and distributed in hundreds of thousands of copies. Recently, the minimum wage of 14 euros per hour was obtained at the UGent, also for subcontracted staff. This was achieved through a campaign of the trade union delegation that popularised the demand with a petition, consolidated and strengthened the militants’ core, looked for allies and built up to a successful strike on 9 March 2020 through various actions.
A plan of industrial action is needed with a similar dynamic: actions aimed at building a stronger relation of forces, not just to let off steam. Open general assemblies in each region can identify our demands and help develop a plan of action. National demonstrations, regional and national strike days will be necessary and will be stronger on the basis of the greatest possible involvement of colleagues on the shop floor, in the industrial zones or in neighbourhoods. It is possible that the FGTB/ABVV activists will be on their own at first, but if they show that they are serious and determined in actions with a serious perspective, the others will have to follow.
Organising such a battle can consign the 1996 wage law to the dustbin. We can go further with demands such as a minimum wage of 14 euros per hour, individualisation of all social benefits (instead of the status of cohabitants that limit benefits of those living together) and raising them above the poverty threshold, full restoration of the index to reflect the real cost of life, nationalisation of the energy sector under democratic control and management by workers and users…
If the labour movement is not serious, out of excessive caution or lack of confidence, we risk losing even more. The recent conviction of the 17 trade unionists of the FGTB in Liège is a dangerous warning in this respect. They were convicted for blocking the road during strike action. Capitalism is now in crisis on all fronts, we have no choice but to fight for the interests of those who make everything work: the workers. It is high time that they take the world into their own hands and ensure that the economy no longer functions under the dictatorship of the market, but under a democratically planned socialist economy.
