“We make enough sacrifices…”: a company in Ghlin asks its employees to reduce their salaries

The German manufacturer Volkswagen intends to reduce its workforce. He also asks his employees to reduce their salaries. This is also what the French glassmaking company Saverglass, which has a factory in Ghlin, is requesting. In order to ensure the sustainability of the company. It’s legal but employees have a lot of questions.

At Saverglass in Ghlin, the idea is defended by the group’s international management: a reduction in workers’ salaries to ensure the sustainability of the company. We are still at the discussion stage, and the positions of the main stakeholders differ. “We only have two days off and we should lower our salary again…“, sighs an employee. “We make enough sacrifices.”

Another employee says he is ready to accept “if it saves his colleagues’ jobs.”

Concretely, workers could soon be faced with a 7% salary reduction for a period of 6 months. Losses between 100 and 200 euros per month. Contacted by us, the union delegations do not wish to express themselves officially, but here is one of the positions collected: “We usually fight for salary increases, this situation is very delicate.“

And in France?

And to get a comment, we cross the border, to join another site of the same group. In Feuquières, in France’s Oise, the proposal is the same, and there, the workers have already said no. “It doesn’t guarantee anything at all“, says Pascal Vallée, CGT union representative in this factory. “That is to say, if society is still doing badly, we don’t know how they will eat us afterwards. So there is no question of taking such a risk.“

And in Belgium, if there are no workers’ positions yet, a question arises, is this applicable?

There are precedents at Durobor in 2011, another glassworks, also at Audi but these cases are extremely rare. Salary reductions can be made if both parties accept it, a modified contract, and if the salary is not below the minimum scales of the sectors.

One of the questions concerns the motivation of workers but not only that. “It cannot be an isolated measure, which in this case would be a kind of patch but without it being clear what the future is.“, explains Evelyne Léonard, economist for UCLouvain. “It can only work if there is a credible reorganization and restructuring plan.“

The workers at the Ghlin site should be consulted soon, they will position themselves regarding this pay cut, which they are told is essential.

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