Brussels Parliament's Finance Committee has approved a resolution calling for a €0.77-per-hour wage increase for service voucher workers in Brussels.
This would align their pay with that of their counterparts in Flanders and Wallonia.
Flanders and Wallonia signed an agreement on this matter months ago, but Brussels Region was excluded due to the absence of a full-fledged government at the time. The caretaker government was notified of the agreement mere hours before its official signing.
This omission undermines the principle of “equal work, equal pay,” lamented resolution authors Jonathan de Patoul (DéFI) and Karine Lalieux (PS).
On Monday evening, the two parliamentarians merged their respective proposals into a single text, which received unanimous support in principle. However, there was no consensus on how to implement the wage increase.
The resolution proposes retroactive enforcement of the pay rise in 2025, even if it requires tapping into the region’s €13 million budgetary reserves.
The proposal is supported by DéFI, PS, Ecolo, Team Fouad Ahidar, PVDA, and Les Engagés. MR and N-VA abstained, while Open VLD and CD&V, which do not hold voting rights in the committee, argued that the region’s strained financial situation must be considered, and that expenditure should remain neutral in the regional budget.
An amendment by Mouvement Réformateur (MR) reflecting this concern was rejected. However, the party intends to reintroduce it when the Economic Affairs Committee reviews the draft resolution on the issue.
