L'Echo and De Tijd are reporting today (Friday) that the Minister for the Economy, Kris Peeters (Flemish Christian Democrats) has asked social partners to evaluate the system of flexible working in the hotel and catering trade.
Whilst waiting for this evaluation, he is refusing to extend the system to other sectors, as the Open VLD is requesting.
Philippe De Backer, the Secretary of State for Social fraud, Privacy and the North Sea (Open VLD) suggested that he (De Backer) should place the extension of the flexible working system on the agenda for the discussions around budget control.
However, Kris Peeters is likely to oppose this.
As alluded to above, he has demanded that social partners evaluate the system in place in the hotel and catering trade, having commissioned a study which shows its success to be limited.
This study emphasises that although the number of jobs in the sector has increased, less than of half of this increase is actually due to flexible working.
The Brussels Times