The Brussels Court of First Instance will hear on Thursday a complaint lodged by police unions against the State of Belgium, which they accuse of failing to respect its obligations towards them.
The complaint, filed recently by the SNPS, SLFP Police and CSC, will be heard on Thursday morning, SNPS National Secretary Thierry Belin confirmed.
In early 2022, after months-long negotiations, some of the unions and Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden reached a social agreement on structural pay increases, end-of-career adjustments and better working conditions.
A few months later, the first versions of the attendant decrees were negotiated with the unions. However, “dark clouds appeared in the sky when the social partners asked the government whether there would be enough money to implement the agreements reached,” the unions said in a statement.
In October 2022, during budget discussions, the unions “suddenly learnt that there was no money to implement the pay rise in one go,” they added.
This led to increased protest actions and meetings between police representatives and the government. During the meetings, “the Minister of Justice, Vincent Van Quickenborne, assured them that he had never signed any protocol and that his legal representative on the police services negotiating committee had no mandate to sign any protocol,” the police unions reported.
Feeling “betrayed and abandoned,” the unions finally decided to lodge an official complaint against the Belgian State for failing to meet its contractual obligations towards them and for its non-contractual liability in the matter.
The case will be opened on Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Brussels Court of First Instance.
