From 2024, the Flemish government will only appoint permanent staff members in an authority position. This means fewer sick days, a lower pension and more job insecurity for employees with a contract. ‘I had it in mind that after a while I would be appointed permanently.’
‘For those high pensions, we will pay for years on our wages’
Margot Loos (56), mediator at VDAB
“When I started at VDAB in 1986, I was not yet permanently appointed, but I was happily married. At one point I came alone and broke my foot. It was not easy to suddenly fall back on a very low income as a single person. The 666 sick days were therefore one of the main reasons for me to participate in the exams for a permanent appointment. Not because I wanted to take advantage of that, because I have only used it for 17 days since my appointment in 2002, but to have that certainty about my salary and job.
“Working for the government was a conscious choice. I get a lot of satisfaction from my job. There is often outrage because we have such high pensions. But people don’t understand that we have had to lose our wages for years. If I had started working in the private sector, I could have earned a lot more.
“We are all employees and we all do the same job. Of course I think there should be more uniformity. But that does not mean that one group has to drastically lose its acquired rights. I’d be okay with seeing my sick days drop from 666 to about 300, for example. But I don’t see any benefit for permanent appointees in this reform. The only consequence will be that contractuals move more quickly towards the private sector.
“I can retire in five years. I don’t think much will change for me. But that will be the case for colleagues who will retire in ten years or more. I would still recommend a job with the government because of the possibilities to combine work and private life and the respect you get from your employer. But if they implement this, I think that a job with the government will suddenly be a lot less attractive.”
“It is always a matter of waiting to see whether a new contract will come up”
Kevin Michielsens (46), mechanics teacher for the Growing Up Agency
“I have been working at community institution De Zande for almost three years now. Officially my title is ‘educator’, because our institution has no education number. But I call myself a teacher, because we provide home education to young people who have been placed by a juvenile judge, for example. If I worked in regular education, I could get a permanent contract after just one year, and then be appointed after a few years. I have now been working for three years with contracts ranging from three months to a maximum of one year. That is a pity, because it is always a matter of waiting whether there will be a new contract or not.
“I have worked in the private sector for twenty-five years. Three years ago I went to the government on the advice of a colleague. With that switch I had to temporarily lose some wages. But working with young people is my calling. Even from home I have always been taught that as a civil servant you have a nice, well-paid job. My father worked as a tenured jailer for nearly thirty years. I knew that I would end up in a contractual system anyway, but I had in mind that after a while I would be appointed permanently.
“If that is not the case now, it will be difficult for my job security in the first place. Even if you are ill, there is a difference. Last year I had a sports accident on my fibula that prevented me from working for several months. But after one month you already fall back on only 60 percent of your wages. They now want to increase that to two months and 80 percent, but the difference with permanent colleagues remains very large.
“This is not fun for our managers either. We already have many vacancies open, and now this is being decided above their heads. They would much rather be able to keep their people, instead of having to go looking again and again.”
‘The tactic of the Flemish government is divide and conquer’
Peter Nielsen (52), secretary at the Roads and Traffic Agency and trade union representative
“I started as a civil servant in 1995. Then it was said: if you become a civil servant now and you are permanently appointed, you will have a better pension than in the private sector. In return you will receive a slightly lower salary and no group insurance or golden handshake at the end of your career. I finally opted for this position, but in the meantime people have cut back on all kinds of benefits.
“For example, your pension used to be calculated on the basis of your salary during the last five years of your career. Now that has already been rolled back to the last ten years and there are rumors that they want to change it to twenty years or even your entire career. But I wouldn’t be able to go back to the private sector either, because then I would definitely lose all the benefits I’ve built up over the years.
“The permanent appointment is also important for the independence of civil servants. Today, the influence of politicians is already increasing. As a result, as a civil servant you are no longer allowed to say and write what you really want. Often you will be told from higher up that ‘that is not acceptable’.
“The tactic of the Flemish government is divide and rule. If you now dare to react as a statutory employee as I do now, there is a danger that even more aspects will be changed in the next legislature. A consensus has now been sought by not touching the status of the current officials.
“Depending on who will be part of the Flemish government in the future, people might dare to go even further. Moreover, one might dare to extend these reforms to the local authorities. In the city of Antwerp, for example, the ratio between permanent appointees and contract employees is already much worse than in the Flemish government.”
