Everyone who works in the private sector can claim a bicycle allowance from 1 May.
By 1 May at the latest, all employees in the private sector are entitled to a bicycle allowance. Trade unions and employers’ organizations have today concluded an additional collective labor agreement in the National Labor Council (NAR). The government still has to approve the promised compensation measures, otherwise the collective labor agreement will have to be declared illegal, employers’ organization VBO notes.
The reimbursement is 0.27 euros per kilometer for those who regularly cycle to and from work. The reimbursement applies for a maximum distance of 40 kilometers per day. The amount is indexed annually. Nothing will change for those who are already entitled to a bicycle allowance on the basis of a collective labor agreement.
The bicycle allowance already existed in many sectors, but not everywhere. The ACV trade union estimates that about 15 percent of employees were not yet entitled to it, ‘for example in the banking sector or the tourism sector’, says Piet Van den Bergh of the research department. In certain cases, agreements had been made at company level. This supplementary collective agreement does not change anything for existing collective agreements, even if the reimbursement is less than 0.27 euros per kilometre.
11 percent by bicycle
Today, an estimated 11 percent of all employees commute to work by bicycle. The ACV hopes that this number can increase, because, for example, in the group of employees who live less than 5 kilometers from work, more than half still come by car. The trade union also points to the positive effects on health, the environment and traffic jams.
It is not known how much a generalized bicycle allowance will cost employers. The Central Council estimated the cost at 40 million euros per year in 2019, “but that is still only 2 percent of the cost price of company cars, or 0.02 percent of the total wage bill in Belgium,” says ACV. The union also points to possible savings potential for employers, such as the elimination of parking spaces.
Employers’ organization VBO refers to the compensation measures promised by the government, which must be approved by 1 May at the latest. ‘Those compensatory measures (tax credit, ed.) are indispensable. Otherwise, the collective agreement will have to be declared illegal, as it violates the law on competitiveness and the zero margin, “said the FEB.
The employers’ organization is pleased that the social partners have reached an agreement on Tuesday. ‘They have thus shown that they can conclude agreements in complex economic situations. We now hope that the government will respect this agreement.’
There is not yet a generalized bicycle allowance in the public sector. The NAR insists on extending this regulation, but is not authorized itself.
