This basic framework is key to understanding the policies regarding minimum wages in
Belgium. Since 1975, the national minimum wage is determined by the National Labour
Council (Nationale Arbeidsraad – Conseil National du Travail) by the social partners - the
employers’ and employees’ representative bodies. Any agreement reached by the
National Labour Council legally applies to all workers and employers, as if it were law,
and can only be overruled in by-laws. It is worth noting that, in addition to the minimum
wage, the social partners at the national level also agree on a maximum increase of
wages (the so called ‘wage norm’), which is, as a rule, non-binding but closely followed in
lower level agreements.
The freedom of bargaining is mainly implemented and dominated by sector level
agreements which are issued by joint committees. Extension of these agreements by the
Ministry of Labour is common practice, so there exists an additional minimum wage for
nearly all sectors (the exception being the joint committees for companies that are ‘not
elsewhere classified’).
Sector-level collective bargaining forms the core of Belgium’s minimum wage system, but
the country differs from the Nordic or German models in that in Belgium a national
statutory minimum wage plays an important role as well. The national minimum wage
(salaire minimum interprofessionnel) is negotiated between the social partners in
national councils (the Conseil central de l'economie and the Conseil national du travail).
The sector-level agreements are negotiated in one of more than hundred Commissions
Paritaires (sector Joint Committees). Given that these commissions are segregated by
occupational status (in most sectors blue- and white-collar workers belong to separate
commissions), workers at the same firm typically belong to several bargaining
commissions and different minima may apply within the same firm. Public sector
employees and apprentices are exempted from the national statutory minimum wage and
are covered by specific agreements. At the national level, reduced rates have been
defined for workers below 22.5 years (see interprofessional agreements CCT No. 43 and
No. 50). Belgium’s high collective bargaining coverage (around 96 per cent) stems from
the practice that all collective agreements are extended to all workers by Royal Decree.
“Vandekerkhove – 2014)
Considering the absolute level of the national minimum wage, , Belgium has one of the
highest MW, but when calculating the Kaitz index ( ratio of MW to the median wage,
Belgium does not show significant differences with most of the European countries where
a national minimum wage exists, as it appears in the following table by EUROSTAT
(Februari 2015)