The Flemish Union of Independent Entrepreneurs (Unizo) is sounding the alarm. For many companies, it will be very difficult to pay the automatic indexation of salaries announced by 10% in January 2023. Federal Secretary of State for Recovery Thomas Dermine (PS) refuses to touch this system: “We must do everything to protect the purchasing power of citizens.”
“A company that employs 10 people will suddenly have to pay 11 in January. In two years, he will even have to pay 12 people when only 10 work. Result: there may be 8 workers left to pay ten“, warns Danny Van Assche to the VRT.
The managing director of the Union of Independent Entrepreneurs (Unizo) was in debate this Monday evening with the Federal Secretary of State for Recovery Thomas Dermine (PS) on the set the Terzake (VRT).
Highest inflation since 1975 and automatic wage indexation are making the situation for many companies gradually untenable, continues the Unizo representative: “What the unions and the PS often underestimate is that companies are already currently having difficulty paying wage indexation. And in addition, we want to add a real increase in wages. “
Indexation of net salaries
There is an urgent need to act against the rise in labor costs for companies which is expected in January 2023. This does not mean that the boss of Unizo wants to abolish the indexation system: “We’re not advocating an index jump, you don’t even have to go that far, but you have to be creative. An alternative wage indexation only for lower and middle wages, for example.“
Danny Van Assche also proposes another track: an indexation of net wages so that the salary cost for the employer does not increase, but where the employee sees his income indexed. “There are a whole series of possible formulas which we would be happy to discuss with the unions“, he explains.