Budget discussions for 2023 are underway, some ideas on the table of federal ministers are of great concern to the League of Families because different forms of parental leave are in the sights of the authorities.
The League of Families got wind ofa note discussed by federal ministers in the context of the preparation of the 2023 budget concerning a reorganization of time credits for private sector employees and for civil servants. Its existence has been confirmed to the Belga agency.
In details, in case of full-time credit in the private sector to take care of a child, the maximum age would be reduced from 8 to 5 years. The expected saving is 12.54 million euros. For part-time credits (half-time, 4/5), the maximum age would remain 8 years. In addition, the time credit with reason (caring for a child, a loved one in palliative care, a disabled child) would go from 51 to 48 months, or 7.26 million euros in savings. The career break that can now be enjoyed by civil servants is also in the sights of the authorities. From 60 months possible today, this opportunity would be reduced to 48 months.
These measures are of great concern to La Ligue, which is sounding the alarm: “ For the sandwich generation caring for both kids and older parents, three months less, that’s huge !“, declares to Trends Tendances Lola Galler, in charge of studies within the League of families.
Step back
“These devices are certainly not not a luxury but a necessity to enable parents to get by and reconcile their professional and private lives as well as possible. It is also a matter of gender equality between men and women“, explains Lola Galler. She recalls that the Family League has been working for a long time to improve these leave arrangements. “We would experience a serious setback if these holidays were to be planed “, she warns. In general, what shocks the League in what the government is proposing is “to touch these devices holidaysparental
With snowball consequences : “parents who would no longer have recourse to these arrangements of their working time will break down, fall ill and put themselves in incapacity of work“, warns Lola Galler.”And these illness disabilities ultimately cost society even more. It’s not donations not the right calculation“, says the researcher.
Decrease the amounts by 5 to 10%
According to the note that La Ligue des familles was able to consult, the idea is also circulating of reduce the amounts allocated by 5 to 10% within the framework of the time credit. This could also concern parental leave. The daily From Standaard already revealed it last week: parents taking parental leave could suffer a decrease in income ranging from 25 to 50 euros per month for time creditbetween 42 and 84 euros for parental leave, and between 21 and 42 euros for a career break.
“It is also a huge setback for household budgets because the salaries are already very lownotes the League of Families: 516.63 euros per month for time credit, and 845 euros per month for full-time parental leave, who can still afford it these days?“, asks Lola Galler.
She continues: “This reform would at the same time a huge setback for gender equality Between them men and them women because we know that one of the consequences of the low remuneration of holidays parentalis that these are them women who resort to it since they already earn less. The impact on the family budget is in most cases less if the woman takes parental leave. So, if the allowance is further reduced, this will penalize even more them women. Moreover, we already know that them women are underrepresented on the labor market since 70% of part-time work is already taken by them women who are mostly in charge of the household.”
Time is running out as the decision must be made in the next few hours as part of the 2023-2024 federal budget discussions. The League is mobilizing to prevent them from being taken, it has written a letter to the deputy prime ministers and party presidents to renounce this measure which it considers discriminatory. “Unfortunately, the answers are not going in the right direction.deplores Lola Galler who also calls for the reaction of civil society.
“What a setback for gender equality”: the FGTB disapproves of time credit projects
“Nonsense”, reacted for its part the FGTB on Friday, which points out that this measure will impact “more heavily on women”, who use it more. For the FGTB, these measures would make no sense when parental leave, time credits and career breaks (in the public sector) “are meeting with growing success because (these measures) meet a need: a better balance between private and professional life. As a result, they contribute to maintaining the employment rate, or even increasing it”.
“Women more heavily” affected
Reducing the allowance granted during these leaves “will discourage workers from using them when, on the contrary, the spectrum of these measures should be broadened to make them accessible to all, financially”, believes the FGTB.
The socialist union also points out that these restrictions would “heavily affect women“, who use it more. “Fathers, who are beginning to take parental leave, also changing mentalities in the company, will also think twice about it again. What setback for gender equality?”, denounces the union organization.
The FGTB also stresses that the time credit system “is based on a collective labor agreement concluded by the social partners and therefore asks the government to respect this collective labor agreement and social consultation”.
“An economy project on the backs of families and, in particular, women”
“The government would consider attacking the work-life balance of workers in both the private and public sectors head-on”also denounces the CSC, which says it is amazed by “this economic project on the backs of families and, in particular, women”.
According to the Christian Union, time credit measures have demonstrated their effectiveness and all evaluations prove that the devices of support for work-life balance must, on the contrary, be strengthened. “Every day more workers are experiencing anxiety about their energy bills. Taking away more financial income and the means to reconcile their professional life with their private life is a flagrant lack of respect.“, further denounces the CSC, which recalls that precisely this Thursday, a bill transposing the “Work Life Balance” directive was passed in the Chamber. “A little consistency on the part of the government would be welcome,” criticizes the CSC.
The League of Families got wind of a note discussed by federal ministers as part of the preparation of the 2023 budget concerning a reorganization of time credits for private sector employees and for civil servants. Its existence has been confirmed to the Belga agency. In detail, in the event of full-time credit in the private sector to care for a child, the maximum age would drop from 8 to 5 years. The expected saving is 12.54 million euros. For part-time credits (half-time, 4/5), the maximum age would remain 8 years. In addition, the time credit with reason (caring for a child, a relative in palliative care, a disabled child) would go from 51 to 48 months, i.e. 7.26 million euros in savings. . The career break that civil servants can now benefit from is also in the sights of the authorities. From 60 months possible today, this opportunity would be reduced to 48 months. These measures are of great concern to La Ligue, which is sounding the alarm: “For the sandwich generation that takes care of both its children and older parents, three months less is huge!”, says to Trends Tendances Lola Galler, in charge of studies within the League of families “These devices are certainly not a luxury but a necessity to allow parents to get by and to reconcile their professional life and their private life. It is also a question of gender equality between men and women”, explains Lola Galler. She recalls that the Family League has been working for a long time to improve these leave arrangements. “We would experience a serious setback if these holidays were to be planed!”, She warns. In general, what shocks the League in what the government is proposing is “to touch these parental leave arrangements With snowballing consequences: “parents who would no longer have recourse to these adjustments to their working time work will break down, fall ill and become incapacitated for work”, warns Lola Galler. “And these illness incapacities ultimately cost society even more. This is therefore not the right calculation”, considers the researcher. According to the note that the League of Families was able to consult, the idea is also circulating of reducing the amounts allocated by 5 to 10% within the framework of the This could also concern parental leave. The daily De Standaard already revealed it last week: parents taking parental leave could suffer a reduction in income ranging from 25 to 50 euros per month for time credit, between 42 and 84 euros for parental leave, and between 21 and 42 euros for career breaks. “It’s also a huge setback for household budgets because wages are already very low, notes the League of Families: 516 63 euros per month for time credit, and 845 euros per month for full-time parental leave, who can still afford it these days?” asks Lola Galler. She continues: “This reform would be in at the same time a huge setback for gender equality between men and women, because we know that one of the consequences of the low remuneration of parental leave is that it is women who use it since they already earn less. The impact on the family budget is in most cases less if the woman takes parental leave. Therefore, if the allowance is further reduced, this will penalize women even more. In addition, we already know that women are under-represented in the labor market since 70% of part-time work is already taken by women who are mainly in charge of the household.” Time is running out because the decision must be taken in the coming hours within the framework of the discussions of the federal budget 2023-2024. The League is mobilizing to prevent them from being taken, it has written a letter to the deputy prime ministers and to the presidents of parties to renounce this measure which it considers discriminatory “The answers are unfortunately not going in the right direction”, deplores Lola Galler who also calls for the reaction of civil society.
.