The management of the SNCB group has sent a new version of the social protocol agreement which guarantees a 31,765-strong workforce through to the end of 2018. This represents a net reduction of 2,293 positions when compared to January 1st, 2016, states the newspaper L’Echo on Wednesday. Unlike the September 2015 version, the board has acceded to a request from the unions who had wanted the management to commit to a figure for the workforce.
According to the documents which L'Echo has been able to view, the management has commited to job provision for 31,765 staff (or 30,494 full-time or full-time equivalents) of whom 19,128 will work directly for SNCB, 11,009 for Infrabel (the Belgian railway infrastructure) and 728 for HR Rail (which employs railway workers). There will also be around 900 secondment positions.
The figures put forward are a little optimistic insofar as that they depend upon factors some of which may be lacking, stresses L’Echo.
The SNCB has particularly stated that it will only be on track to guarantee its 19,128 posts if the infrastructure charge is permanent, the set increase in productivity is viable and it gets the pricing freedom sought.
Likewise for Infrabel who will only take on the 11,009 employees if there is no deviation from the assumptions concerning in particular the staffing levels and the formula implemented for the infrastructure charge.
(Source: Belga)
