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5 April, 2010
The Belgian-Flemish ICEM affiliate, LBC-NVK, held its Congress from 24-26 March 2010 in Mol, Limburg Province, bringing together 600 trade unionists for three days of workshops, discussions, and decision-making.
Ferre Wyckmans, General Secretary of the LBC-NVK, was re-elected, and he is assisted by incumbent Deputy General Secretary, Marijke Persoone. The union’s President remains Robert Schuermans.
Working on a number of themes, including “decent work,” “how to take action,” a “fair economy,” and an “active government,” delegates adopted, on the final Congress day, a wide range of principles dedicated to future work. Among them included priorities on decent salaries (as well as excessive bonuses), good fiscal regulations, the need for high-quality training and education, “how to deal with flexibility,” and the need for a “green economy.”
LBC-NVK Gen. Sec. Ferre Wyckmanns
On the flexibility issue, LBC-NVK calls for action against the omnipresent “increasing flexibility demands.” The union, while also calling for temporary and agency labour contracts to be made permanent and direct with a primary employer after six months, seeks to ensure that the already existing Belgian laws on agency and temporary work are better applied, monitored, and sanctioned. Open-ended and direct permanent contracts are – and need to remain – the benchmark.
At the international level, the union stated it seeks to increase involvement in global and European activities, including through a more active participation in the Global Union Federations. Specifically highlighted was the need to make the international trade union movement stronger as a countervailing power to match that of multinational enterprises. Framework agreements with multinationals are seen as one of the possible ways forward in this respect.
The LBC-NVK (Landelijke Bedienden Centrale - Nationaal Verbond voor Kaderpersoneel) is a trade union for white collar, professional, and managerial employees in Flanders, Belgium, that is affiliated to the Belgian national labour centre ACV-CSC. It had 315,000 members at the end of 2009, an increase of 6,000 members since 2008. Of all members, 188,000 are women and 127,000 are men.