ACV president Ann Vermorgen has criticised a proposal reportedly being discussed by Bart De Wever’s government to cut one holiday entitlement for civil servants and stop compensating private-sector workers when a public holiday falls at the weekend, while employers’ federation chief Pieter Timmermans said the measure could form part of a broader recovery and growth plan.
As Prime Minister De Wever searches for €10 billion in savings, his government is said to be considering reducing the number of leave days. The ideas under discussion include removing one day of annual leave for civil servants and ending the practice of granting a replacement day when a public holiday falls on a weekend.
Speaking on De Zevende Dag, Vermorgen said the proposal once again targeted “ordinary working people.” She argued that Belgium already lags behind much of Europe, with ten statutory public holidays compared with a European average of 12.
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She also questioned how workers would be expected to remain in employment for longer if their time off is reduced.
Timmermans, head of the Federation of Belgian Enterprises, said scrapping a public holiday or a day of leave could be acceptable as part of a wider “recovery and growth programme.” However, he said such a step should be included in a broader package rather than introduced as one of many small individual measures.
He also called for reforms to what he described as Belgium’s “25 different holiday systems,” saying the current arrangements should be brought into order.
