BEERG Newsletter - Belgium: Collective bargaining law breaches ILO Conventions

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has determined that Belgian labour law, which sets strict limits on private sector wage increases, is incompatible with the right to collective bargaining. In an official report delivered by the organisation's Committee on Freedom of Association (CFA), it was noted that Belgian labour law poses "a significant restriction on the ability of social partners to negotiate autonomously the evolution of the level of wages in the private sector".

The CFA further called on the Belgian Government to implement "necessary measures" to ensure that collective bargaining — a right enshrined in an ILO Convention ratified by Belgium in 1953 — remains protected under Belgian labour law.