2023-05-10 16:40:00
In reading reports on bills discussed in the House, we sometimes have a few surprises. The report of the first reading of the bill relating to the interprofessional agreement (AIP) for the years 2023 and 2024 includes one. Size. As a reminder, the Council of Ministers gave its approval at the end of March, following this “AIP 2023-2024”, to the granting of a “purchasing power” bonus of 500 or 750 euros depending on whether a company makes high or exceptionally high profits respectively. This solution had been found by the social partners to compensate for the absence of a salary margin apart from the indexation of salaries. Surprise, therefore, since this bonus is theoretically possible for the public sector as well. Not just for the private sector.
Like the “Corona” bonus
In the report giving an account of the discussions, we can indeed read that “the Council of State raised the question of whether the purchasing power bonus could be granted in the public sector. The Minister (of Social Affairs, Franck Vandenbroucke, Editor’s note) indicates that, like the Corona bonus, the purchasing power bonus can be granted in the public sector. This point is confirmed in the report to the King of the royal decree to be published. The same applies to the bonus in the non-market sector, the concept of “(exceptionally) high profits in 2022” will however have to receive a definition adapted to this sector, after negotiation between the social partners”.
It is an understatement to say that the information raises a few eyebrows. On the liberal side, a government source recalls that “discussions focused on the private sector”that it was about “to find solutions for the private sector, not the public one”and “in any case, it is necessary to be able to define the notion of profit in the public sector”, she quips. However, solutions had been found during the health crisis to reward essential sectors such as healthcare. “It remains to be seen whether public finances allow it.”, slips our liberal source.
Purchasing power, the main concern of Belgians
A premium to be negotiated
When contacted, the office of Economy Minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne (PS) confirms what was said by Social Affairs Minister Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) in the Chamber, namely that “yes, the premium is for both” (private and public sectors, editor’s note). “It is specifically provided that for the public sector, the granting of the “consumption voucher” (which is the “purchasing power bonus”) must have been the subject of negotiation within the competent negotiation committee. The possible granting of a purchasing power bonus depends on the decision of the authorities concerned. The same goes for public companies”we explain to the office of the Minister of the Economy.
Everything will therefore depend on the negotiations within the sectors. Refuting remarks on the bill by the Council of State, which questioned the need to define what constitutes a profit, Minister Vandenbroucke explained that “the purchasing power bonus is an instrument that still needs to be discussed – at sectoral or company level – between the social partners, and the government has chosen to give the latter a margin of appreciation in the concrete definition of these concepts (benefit, editor’s note).”
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