UNI Europa stands with Belgium’s non-profit workers – in the care, welfare and sociocultural sectors – on strike in Brussels today, on 22 May 2025. They demand more resources and attention for the sector. Half a year ago, 32,000 care workers already gave a clear signal with a major national demonstration: the sector needs investment and strong collective agreements.
Belgium’s federal government plans major cuts to social security. But there is an acute shortage of caregivers, caretakers, educators and counsellors for people with disabilities or youth, with a historically high number of vacancies for nurses. This negative spiral of staff shortages leads to higher workloads, which results in turn in more staff attrition.
This vicious cycle must be broken – and it can only be done by investing in the social non-profit sector. In order to attract and retain enough qualified personnel, the government must ensure good status, with decent pay and a healthy work-life balance.
Worryingly, the Belgian government’s Easter Agreement contains measures that could cause staff in some social-profit sectors to receive their salary indexation with an additional one or two months’ delay. For a median salary of €3,500 gross, an employee will lose out on €70 per month of delay.
The government is also punishing part-time workers. 60 per cent of social non-profit workers are part-timers. Those who involuntarily work part-time and receive unemployment benefits will lose these benefits because of the federal government’s measures.
UNI Europa is representative for social services and human health sector at EU level, participating in the EU sectoral social dialogue on social services and working on establishing social dialogue for Personal and Household Services (PHS). We stand with Belgium’s care, welfare and sociocultural on strike today. As their colleagues all across Europe, they deserve investments into quality jobs, more personnel and decent workplaces. We urge the government to listen to the demands of the Belgian unions.