Good Practices in Labour Administration

Conciliation of Collective Labour Disputes

The case of Belgium

In Belgium, conciliation of collective labour disputes relies on the principle of voluntary conciliation. It is conducted by joint commissions which are statutory bodies under public law, generally chaired by social conciliators, civil servants from the Department of Collective Labour Relations Service, in the Federal Ministry of Employment and Labour.

One of the particular features of the Belgian system is that it includes a prior conciliation system whereby the head of a company, even if not a member of a representative employers' organization, a trade union delegation or the chairman of a joint commission may, if he/she considers it useful, ask for the convening of a conciliation board before a dispute is declared, threat of litigation or even a simple difference of opinion.

Historic background

Bipartite social collaboration was first extended to all employers and workers in the Belgian private sector by a legislative decree of 9 June 1945.

The strategy of the Belgian system is based on the autonomy of the social partners in negotiating collective agreements and in the avoidance and conciliation of collective labour disputes in order to maintain social harmony. The objective is to avoid any collective labour dispute and when a dispute does arise, to reach a solution acceptable to each of the parties through conciliation and thus allow the resumption of social relations in a calmer atmosphere.

The system consists of the joint commissions established by the Law of 5 December 1968 on collective labour agreements, which complemented the legislative decree of 1945. Article 38 of the Law of 5 December 1968 assigns important responsibilities to representative employers' and employees' organizations, in particular:

• to conclude collective labour agreements;
• to mediate in any dispute between employers and workers ⁽¹⁾;
• to give their views to government and other bodies on matters within their purview; and
• to fulfil any other mission assigned to them by law.

Institutional framework

As the joint commissions were created by the State, they are bodies governed by public law which, in addition to their role of conciliation and conclusion of collective agreements, have purely public law powers, such as withdrawing protection from members of company boards or prevention and welfare boards, and the maintenance of essential services. This illustrates the Belgian system of collective relations in which the State plays a supplementary role, i.e. it only intervenes in the case of disagreement between the social partners.

In addition to the hundred or so joint commissions organized by sector of activity, there are some sixty joint sub-commissions many of which are autonomous ⁽²⁾. Each joint commission or sub-commission can take account of the situation and problems inherent in a geographic or economic sector of the country. In order to follow social and economic development, and to some extent steer it, joint commissions meet with great regularity to adapt the texts of collective labour agreements or plan new measures.

In addition to their "legislative" activities, the joint commissions play a major role in cases of collective disputes in an enterprise or a sector.

One of the particular features of the Belgian system for the conciliation of collective labour disputes is that it includes a prior conciliation system whereby the head of a company, even if not a member of a representative employers' organization, a trade union delegation or the chairman of a joint commission may, if he/she considers it useful, ask for the convening of a conciliation board before a dispute is declared, threat of litigation or even a simple difference of opinion (for example, to interpret a clause in a collective labour agreement).

Responsibility for the functioning of joint commissions lies with the Collective Labour Relations Service in the Ministry of Labour and Employment. The service is primarily responsible for setting up joint commissions, i.e. defining the scope of their powers, examination of the representative nature of the candidate organizations, nomination, by the Minister on the recommendation of the employers' and employees' organizations, of the members of the joint commission and their replacement. Joint commissions are generally chaired by social conciliators who are civil servants from this Service ⁽³⁾.

The secretariats of the joint commissions are made up of registrars in the Collective Labour Relations Service. They are responsible for drafting reports, preparing the texts of collective agreements and the royal decrees making them mandatory. Several hundred royal decrees are prepared annually.

The Service is also responsible for preparing royal decrees on the establishment and composition of each joint commission.

Apart from these activities directly linked to the functioning and activity of joint commissions, the Collective Labour Relations Service carries out other administrative tasks and studies, such as:

• registration of collective agreements, including company collective agreements (a total of over 3090 agreements deposited in 1996);
• analysis, revision and submission of these agreements for ministerial approval when mandatory force by royal decree is requested or required ⁽⁴⁾;
• examination of requests for derogation from the application of the regulations concerning wage bargaining, youth training and early retirement;
• issue of opinions concerning the competent joint commission.

Methods of implementation

In the case of conciliation of collective labour disputes, the conciliation panel of the joint commission ⁽⁵⁾, after hearing the parties, makes a recommendation aimed at achieving a solution satisfactory to each of the two parties. If this fails, the chairman of the joint commission, who is often also a social conciliator, may act alone as conciliator. The activity of conciliation may constitute, depending on the sector, a quarter and sometimes a third of the work of social conciliators.

The recommendation of the conciliation panel or the proposal by the conciliator aims to reach a solution acceptable to each of the parties and allow the resumption of social relations and activities in a calmer atmosphere. In no case will the point of view of one of the parties be imposed on the other. Such a method would be liable to humiliate one of the parties, which would be prejudicial to the restoration of a good social climate.

The objective of the Collective Labour Relations Service is to ensure that collective agreements, which vary in length, are deposited and made binding and to ensure that they are reviewed. The actual schedule is maintained on computer by the social partners. In particular, the trade unions have every interest in maintaining these schedules properly as failure to renew collective labour agreements would give rise to legal uncertainty and social instability. In addition, the Collective Labour Relations Service sets qualitative targets which relate essentially to preventing legal difficulties during renegotiations.

The service provided to joint commissions is laid down by law and thus mandatory. It also consists of several services where officials draw up draft royal decrees and sometimes the texts of collective agreements negotiated between the parties.

The Ministry of Labour publishes brochures, booklets and reviews containing regular information on social cooperation, the work of joint commissions and the results achieved. In addition, as the media is becoming increasingly interested in the means used by the State to maintain social harmony, information on the conciliation of collective labour disputes is increasingly made known to the general public. In addition, as the organizations of social partners in Belgium have large staffs and resources, they themselves inform their members about all the legal conciliation procedures. They also provide conciliation training for their members.

In the context of continuous economic growth, social conciliators, apart from carrying out their administrative duties related to the deposit of sectoral collective agreements, work independently in their sector, while reporting on the results of their work to the Ministry of Labour and the General Administrator of the Collective Labour Relations Service. At the present time, because of the growing complexity of society, regular meetings ⁽⁶⁾ are held between social conciliators, the management of the Collective Labour Relations Service and the Minister's office to explain the implications of government decisions or legislation concerning collective relations and their effects on the ground. The same goes for case law in the courts and tribunals and the European Court of Justice.

The social conciliator is independent of the social partners, but remains subject to the authority of the Minister, under article 40 of the Law of 5 December 1968, which provides that the chairman of the joint commission shall exercise his office under the direct authority of the Minister responsible for Labour. In addition, In the royal decree of 23 July 1969 which established the Collective Labour Relations Service, the general provisions which establish the staff regulations for the service, provide that in exercising their functions, social conciliators are responsible to the Minister responsible for Labour. In practice, however, social conciliators enjoy autonomy because they decide on the recommendations they submit.

Most recommendations formulated by the conciliation panels of the joint commissions are the fruit of unanimous deliberation by the representatives of the social partners. It is exceptional for the chairman of a joint commission or a social conciliator alone to formulate a recommendation without the approval of the organizations with which he collaborates. It only happens in the case of exceptional disputes.

Management of the human resources involved

As the tasks of social conciliators were fixed by the royal decree of 23 July 1969, a job description is not necessary. According to the decree, conciliators have the task of preventing and resolving social conflicts. They may, in addition, assigned to the chair of joint commissions. Because of the way legislation has evolved, they increasingly carry out specific tasks (tasks which are more administrative) laid down in more recent laws, such as industrial apprenticeship.

The Collective Labour Relations Service has a total of 140 staff, including 24 registrars. The conciliation activities are carried out by four senior social conciliators, nine social conciliators and 11 assistant social conciliators. They have the status of civil servants and are appointed by the King.

For recruitment of social conciliators and assistant social conciliators, the decree of July 1969 only laid down conditions of age and experience (35 years and 10 years experience).As a result of social and economic change, other qualifications have proved necessary. A royal decree of 10 January 1994 introduced the requirement for a diploma alongside the age and experience conditions. For example, the candidate must hold an advanced school-leaving diploma coupled with 12 years experience in handling social problems, at least eight of them in social relations between employers and workers, the age limit being lowered to 30 years. Alternatively, holders of a university degree need only eight years experience in social relations between employers and workers, with the same age limit required.

Although there is no explicit training policy, social conciliators receive training through participation in seminars.

In the past, there was no system for evaluating the work of social conciliators. However, as the Belgian Government wants to evaluate the work of all its staff, a system of work performance evaluation has been introduced for assistant social conciliators, which will ultimately be extended to the whole body of conciliators. The senior social conciliators have been given responsibility for evaluating the assistant social coordinators. In addition, social coordinators, like all civil servants, are subject to administrative sanctions in the event of proven professional misconduct. These sanctions are imposed by the Minister of Labour.

Information Technology

All collective agreements have been integrated into a computer system by the registrars and the registry of the Collective Labour Relations Service. The system can be accessed by the social partners. In addition, each social conciliator has a computer for which he/she has received the appropriate training.

Partnership

The social partners, employers' and employees' organizations are the prime players in the Belgian conciliation system. Indeed, the joint commissions are composed only of representatives of employers' and employees' organizations, and chaired by a civil servant (often a professional conciliator) from the Collective Labour Relations Service in the Ministry of Employment and Labour.

Financing

The financial resources necessary for the conciliation of collective labour disputes come from the national budget. The budget of the Collective Labour Relations Service is an integral part of the budget of the Ministry of Employment and Labour and is managed in accordance with the Ministry's financial regulations. The budget is approved annually by Parliament, and is subject to a posteriori control, as in the case of all government services, by the Belgian Court of Auditors.

Evaluation

Bearing in mind the nature of conciliation work, the evaluation of the results of the Collective Labour Relations Service is achieved through political control and comment (Government and Parliament), for example during the debate in Parliament on the budget of the Department of Employment and Labour.

Results

The results achieved by the Collective Labour Relations Service are as follows:

In 1995: 835 meetings of joint commissions (mainly to renew sectoral collective agreements);

• 368 conciliation meetings; and
• 446 meetings on other work carried out by the Service.

In 1996:

• 619 meetings of joint commissions;
• 385 conciliation meetings; and
• 380 other meetings;
• 3090 agreements deposited;
• more than 4000 members of joint commissions appointed.

It should be noted that more than two thirds of the conciliation meetings concerned prior conciliation.

1. The principle was voluntary conciliation, not compulsory conciliation.

2. Autonome means that the joint sub-commission can conclude collective agreements on the Same basis as the joint commission without having to obtain its prior approval.

3. 98 per cent of joint commissions are chaired by social conciliators.

4. A royal decree is equivalent to a presidential decree in France.

5. The conciliation panel consists of representatives of the organizations of the social partners represented in the joint commission.

6. When specific clarifications on a particular issue are considered useful to th participants, experts from outside the labour administration are sometimes invited to these meetings. For example, a professor from th University of Liege came to comment for social conciliators on recent developments in case law concerning occupation of work premises by strikers, as well as strike pickets to dissuade volunteer workers in th case of stoppages.