Slightly surprising news from Belgium: the liberal-conservative
Flemish-Belgian party Open Vld has made a U-turn and is now in favor of the
so-called Mini-Jobs, after months of resistance against it.
Mini-jobs are jobs, which are rewarded with a maximum of €450
per month. These jobs are not liable for income taxes and social security
premiums, but consequently offer no social security protection for the workers
that have such a Mini-job. Besides that, the maximum of €450 per month is not
enough for a person or household to live from. Consequently, people are usually
forced to take another (mini-)job in order to avoid poverty.
The Flemish (i.e. written in Dutch) newspaper Het Nieuwsblad
wrote upon this developing story:
Open Vld states that
it is time for the introduction of ‘flexible, affordable (temporary) labour’,
like the German Mini-jobs. Labour unions and social-democrats have always
resisted against the introduction of the German-style Mini-jobs. According to these
stakeholders, the Mini-jobs lead to an increase in poverty, diminishing job-security
and social inequality. However, from now on they face severe headwinds from the
liberal-conservatives. Open Vld supports the call from Karel van Eetvelt,
chairman of the Belgian employer’s organization Unizo, to introduce an ‘adjusted
version’ of the mini-jobs in our country.
Open Vld-chairwoman
Gwendolyn Rutten:’I don’t like the expression Mini-jobs, due to the negative
connotation it might bring. In spite of that, we are the demanding party for
the introduction of a system for flexible, accessible and affordable labour, maybe/maybe
not on an hourly basis, in order to lead people to the labour market more
quickly’.
According to Rutten,
there is a large need for this kind of labour, especially in industries like
the food, beverage and hospitality industry and the healthcare industry. A
precondition is that these mini-jobs don’t replace the regular jobs.
The Flemish
Social-Democrats, represented by the Sp.A of Johan Vande Lanotte, are not in favour
of the mini-jobs. In Germany, 5 million people work in such jobs, but in the
country with the strongest economy in Euro poverty has become twice as high as
in Flanders, since the introduction of these mini-jobs. The government made
occasional labour less expensive, but this is about ‘making an occasional buck’
every now and then, according to Vande Lanotte. The emergence of permanent Mini-jobs
should not be a target of this policy. People cannot make ends meet with €450
per month, he added.
This morning, there has been a discussion upon this topic on
BNR business radio. Some disturbing data were mentioned during this discussion:
- 7.5 million workers in Germany currently have such a mini-job;
- Currently 25% of every new job is a mini-job;
- 50% of every new job in the food, beverage and hospitality industry is a mini-job;
- People with mini-jobs are often forced to take a second job to get sufficient income;
- People with a mini-job are considered to be the new poor;
- Only retirees seem to profit from the mini-jobs, as they can add a few bucks to their pension payments;
Michael Moore’s shocking documentary ‘Bowling for
Columbine’ gravely showed a.o. the negative consequences of the
American equivalent of mini-jobs: poor people in a desperate situation, who have
to work for 16 hours per day to make ends meet, thus neglecting their families
and children. Children run wild and start to skip school, thus aiming at a
future of joblessness, drug addiction and lurking criminality and victimship.
Workers in such jobs might get caught in a poverty trap,
without having the chance of ever getting out. They probably don’t have a right
for social security, they are out-of-scope for the labour agencies (‘not
unemployed’) and when they get ill, someone else gets their job. It seems to be
one step closer to 21st century ‘virtual’ slavery in this European
race-to-the-bottom and it ultimately leads to a reduced group of ‘haves’, a
small group of extremely wealthy ‘haves’ and a large group of ‘have nots’.
People, who don’t believe me, only have to look at the
extreme numbers of foodstamps that are handed out in the US monthly. In April,
2013 a
record 23-million households has been living on foodstamps: one-in-five
households in the US. Many of these people probably have one or two (mini-)jobs.
Besides that, employers get spoilt by such ‘no strings
attached’ labour like the mini-jobs, as
these offer exactly the wrong kind of flexibility. Workers with these kinds of
jobs can be treated with disdain by the higher-paid workers and can be tossed
away like a used paper towel, when they don’t meet the high company standards
that even these jobs seem to have nowadays.
Companies that care for (all) their workers, should offer
them a decent salary. And companies that can’t pay a decent salary nowadays, seemingly
don’t have what it takes to survive this crisis! This statement on my behalf
might sound too harsh, but the streets are currently littered with companies
that could only survive in good times, but failed hopelessly in the current,
bad times.
In my daily situation, I start to notice a more harsh stance
of employers towards their employees. The national attitude of employers seems
to be: ‘my way or the highway’. Employers want simply the best and most
flexible workers and don’t settle for less anymore. The awkward economic
situation has changed the labour market in a massive supply-market, where
demanding companies only look for the best-of-the-best.
The extremely diminished demand for consumption and
business2business products on the European markets led to a substantial overcapacity
in almost any industry. Many companies in Europe are currently in a situation
wherein they strongly reduce their overcapacity and only want to maintain
workers that work very hard, but cost their company very little money. All
others can go! This is an predictable, understandable and defendible paradigm
shift in the current labour market, when compared to the same labour market eight
years ago.
However, when the floodgates of underpaid and underprotected
jobs are opened, this leads inevitably to deterioration of all job payments and
a deterioration of jobs in general, except for the best paid management jobs.
The demand of Open Vld in the earlier mentioned article, ‘that the Mini-jobs
should not replace the regular jobs’ is made in vain: this will definitely
happen in many, many regular, steady jobs.
The European youngsters already suffer from strongly
diminished job security and the elderly workers might follow soon, when their
current fixed jobs are exchanged for flexible jobs with strongly reduced
payments. Mini-jobs might be a soaring phenomena soon, as I expect many
countries to follow the German example.
I am definitely not per sé against more
flexibility in the labour market, but I am against a situation on the
labour market where nobody has any kind of security upon his job anymore. Flexibility
on the labour market is only successful when there is something in it for the
workers too and not only for the employers alone. The former is not so obvious
as the latter, unfortunately.
The Rheinland model with its high job security, good salary
payments for everybody and substantial welfare provisions always suited
continental Europe fine and brought the continent prosperity and fortune in the
past seventy years. It would be a shame to toss this all away, in favor of the
Anglo-Saxon model with its focus on shareholder’ value, its limited
job-security and its extreme rewards for the top-layer of specialized workers
and managers.
Therefore I wish the Belgian political parties good luck and
I hope that they offer the mini-jobs a critical assessment before introducing
them in Flanders and Wallony. I also hope that the Germans don’t continue much
further on this path-to-the-bottom.
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