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Why Valérie Glatigny’s meeting with unions failed: “Their positions are irreconcilable at this stage” Image: © Jacques Duchateau
🇧🇪 Belgium /Economy & Trade

Why Valérie Glatigny’s meeting with unions failed: “Their positions are irreconcilable at this stage”

From La Libre Belgique · () French

Translated from French and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Education Minister Valérie Glatigny’s meeting with major education unions failed to resolve a dispute over recently adopted savings measures.
  • The unions rejected a proposed advisory committee and demanded either additional funding for French-speaking Belgium or the reversal of the cuts.
  • The minister’s office said no new education savings would be proposed until the end of the legislature and announced another meeting for Oct. 13.

The attempt to restore dialogue between Valérie Glatigny and French-speaking Belgium’s education unions ended in failure on Tuesday, with both sides acknowledging that the dispute over budget cuts remains unresolved.

The education minister proposed creating a new advisory committee to improve consultation, but she refused to reverse measures already adopted. That position failed to satisfy the unions, which have spent months opposing the reforms. Representatives of CSC Enseignement, CGSP Enseignement and Setca-SEL left the meeting after insisting that discussions focus on new federal funding for the French Community or a retreat from the savings measures.

The unions described the meeting as “extremely disappointing” and called for the protest movement to intensify. Roland Lahaye of CSC Enseignement said, “The minister is sticking to her position. She has sand in her ears and does not want to hear about the difficulties in schools. I am extremely disappointed. We expected something other than the announcement of an advisory committee. I wasted my time!” Luc Toussaint of CGSP Enseignement also said there was no alternative to tougher action.

The minister is sticking to her position. She has sand in her ears and does not want to hear about the difficulties in schools. I am extremely disappointed. We expected something other than the announcement of an advisory committee. I wasted my time!

— Roland LahayeThe CSC Enseignement representative criticized the minister after the meeting.

Adrien Rosman of Setca-SEL warned, “We will not meet the minister again until we have concrete proposals to resolve the crisis.” The unions also criticized the absence of Minister-President Elisabeth Degryse.

Glatigny’s office likewise characterized the meeting as a failure, but said the minister had heard the unions’ dissatisfaction. It stated that she would not propose additional education savings for the rest of the legislature, while maintaining that the budget situation had not improved. The meeting continued with the SLFP and Appel unions, which discussed working conditions, the timetable for future education legislation, pensions for physical incapacity and workplace accident rules. Glatigny’s office said she would invite the unions to meet again on Oct. 13.

We will not meet the minister again until we have concrete proposals to resolve the crisis.

— Adrien RosmanThe Setca-SEL representative warned that the union would refuse further talks without concrete proposals.
About this summary

Originally published by La Libre Belgique in French. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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