Agreement on storage household helpers in the public sector
© Marc Herremans – Mediahuis
The trade unions from the public sector and the Flemish Association of Cities and Municipalities (VVSG) have reached an agreement on storage for household helpers from the public sector. They receive (with retroactive effect from 1 January) 1 euro gross extra per hour, the trade unions announce.
The agreement relates to around 2,500 to 3,000 household helpers that are employed in home care via service checks, says Nathalie Hiel of ACV Public Services. « Some municipalities entered that system at the time, but not all. Some large players are, for example, Home Care Leuven or Motena from Roeselare. » The housekeeping aids for whom the agreement applies fall under Committee C1.
Their wage rises by 1 euro gross per hour. That storage also applies to hours that are not performed at the customer (and that is therefore not a service check, ed.) Such as training. In addition, it also has an impact on the holiday pay, the end -of -year allowance … of the household helpers.
The trade unions respond satisfied. « This is what we had asked. These people are already with the lowest wages and so a gross wage increase was important, » says Hiel.
The measure comes after the price of the service checks in Flanders has risen by 1 euro since the beginning of this year, from 9 to 10 euros per check. Authorized Flemish Minister Zuhal Demir has always argued for the extra hours of « integral » to flow to the household helpers.
Not in private
In the private sector, where an estimated 127,000 household helpers with service checks are working in Flanders, there has been negotiations for six months, but there is not yet an agreement. On Tuesday the consultation jumped: unions are now threatening with actions, possibly also a strike.
In the private sector, too, the unions wanted a storage of 1 euro gross per hour, but that is difficult for employers because the cost that is opposite – such as the employer’s contribution – is not compensated by the price increase of the service checks. Moreover, the service checks only became more expensive in Flanders, while a collective agreement applies nationally and therefore also to the household helpers in Brussels and Wallonia.
Nathalie Hiel notes on the Flemish cities and municipalities by the agreement for the housekeeping aids are also confronted with an extra cost, « but they have been found willing to take them on. »
