Harmonisation of pension plans for blue- and white-collar workers in Belgium: Working towards a deadline extension to 2030

Traditionally, blue-collar workers and white-collar workers were treated differently when it comes to complementary pension schemes, in the sense that the contributions under the schemes for white-collar workers were higher, even when expressed as a percentage of remuneration. When expressed in amounts, the difference was even bigger, as white-collar workers generally earn more than blue-collar workers.

In its judgement of 8 July 1993, the Constitutional Court considered that the distinction between workers mainly performing work of a manual nature (blue collar) and workers performing mainly work of an intellectual nature (white collar) was very questionable in 1993. The Constitutional Court repeated this conclusion in its judgement of 7 July 2011, but then added that the distinction should be abolished by 2013. Both judgements concerned the difference in the notice period for blue- and white-collar workers. While these differences were harmonised with effect on 1 January 2014, this harmonisation does, nevertheless, only took effect for the part of the notice period relating to service years as of 2014.

With the differences in complementary pension schemes between blue- and white-collar workers, the Act of 5 May 2014 introduced a gradual harmonisation in a three-step approach. The first step concerns the period up to 31 December 2014. For this period, the 2003 Act on Complementary Pensions now clearly states that differences between blue- and white-collar workers are allowed. The second period concerns the period between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2024. In this period, there is in the first place a prohibition on introducing new differences between blue- and white-collar workers. When it comes to the historic differences, a harmonisation exercise should take place, both at the level of the joint committees and at company level. The third period would then be the period as of 1 January 2025. As of that moment, differences in complementary pension schemes between blue- and white-collar workers would no longer be justified.

Today, there are still considerable differences between the pension schemes for blue- and white-collar workers. This holds both for the sectors where there is a separate joint committee for blue- and white-collar workers, but there are also still a lot of differences at company level. Especially in the first case, harmonisation is difficult. While from a legal point of view, the harmonisation could take the form of a compromise whereby the pension scheme for blue-collar workers is improved and the one for white-collar workers is reduced, this is hardly feasible in practice. The harmonisation will thus have to take the form of using the margin for increases of remuneration under the biannual cycle for interprofessional agreements to increase the pension scheme for blue-collar workers (who will then receive lower increases of their remuneration or other benefits).

While an obligation to do something by 2025 might sound very remote, this deadline is actually quite close when realising the target has to be achieved through a biannual negotiation cycle. This holds even more so due to the fact that COVID-19 and increasing inflation meant there was only room for an increase of 0.4% in the 2021-2022 round and it is difficult to predict to what extent there will be room for increases of remuneration in the 2023-2024 round. One should also bear in mind that the margin for increases is under the 1996 Salary Moderation Act determined by comparing the increases of remuneration in Belgium with those in the Netherlands, Germany and France. Belgium is nevertheless the only one of those countries where nearly all employees are covered by a system of automatic indexation of remuneration. If economic growth is limited in the coming years and inflation increases, it might turn out to be difficult for trade unions in the Netherlands, Germany and France to obtain the equivalent of the indexation applicable in Belgium, meaning there is very little room for increases in Belgium.

In those circumstances, on 15 July 2021 the Belgian National Labour Council signed the collective bargaining agreement n° 158 assigning part of the margin for increases of remuneration to the abolition of the differences between blue- and white-collar workers in relation to complementary pensions and recommendation n° 29 concerning the harmonisation of blue- and white-collar workers in relation to complementary pensions.

Recommendation n° 29 invites the government to amend the 2003 Act on Complementary Pensions by changing the deadline of 1 January 2025 to 1 January 2030. Collective bargaining agreement n° 158 assumes a legislative change in that sense will be promulgated and stipulates a commitment to use at least 0.1% of the margin for increases during each of the 2023-2024, the 2025-2026 and also the 2027-2028 rounds to reduce the differences in complementary pensions between blue- and white- collar workers.

At the time of writing, no draft Act implementing recommendation n° 29 has been submitted to Parliament. Even if such legislation is promulgated, it is uncertain what the Constitutional Court would rule if its validity were challenged.