Brussels, 22/12/2011
CONSEQUENCES OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE PENSION REFORM
Belgium 22 December 2011: General strike in the public service
“Early retirement becomes impossible before age 62 and 40 years of service for workers currently aged under 55 and for everyone from 2016.”
“Measures to include certain periods like career breaks, educational periods, etc. as years of service in the pension calculation are abolished.”
“Pensions will shrink: they will be calculated on the average of the last 10 years worked instead of the last 5 years.”
Common Tract: CSC-FGTB-CGSLB
{{THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES }}
The government has put together a reform of public sector pensions without consulting the trade unions. For the trade union common front, the long-standing tradition of Belgian social dialogue risks being sacrificed on the altar of a pension reform imposed by the government. The measures imposed threaten the rights of public service workers.
Another policy is necessary
• A genuine negotiation that respects rules of social dialogue;
• Dignified conditions during the final years of a career;
• Support the public service and combat its dismantling through drastic budget cuts and systematic privatisation, guaranteeing the public sector’s essential contribution to democratic development, sustainable growth, employment and social security.
The ETUC expresses its absolute solidarity with this day of action.