With profit margins at an all-time high, tens of thousands of Belgian workers are today demanding better wages and purchasing power.

‘Belgian companies achieved the highest profit margins ever’ ran the headline in the spring after the publication of these figures by the Belgian National Bank: ‘The Belgian profit margin experienced a notable increase over the past seven years, from 39.3 per cent in 2014 to 42.4 per cent in 2020. This is the highest level since at least 1999, when the margin was 35.7 per cent. Moreover, the rate is significantly higher than in neighbouring countries, where profit margins have remained relatively stable since 2014.’ Last year topped everything, with a margin of 46.8 per cent.

In the meantime workers across Europe and all over the world are confronted with huge price increases, especially for energy. Calculations for Belgium indicate annual inflation of 49.7 per cent for electricity, 33.5 per cent for diesel and 139.5 per cent for natural gas.

Indexation mechanism

A very important automatic indexation mechanism for wages helps workers in Belgium not to lose purchasing power, by catching up on inflation. Unions can then negotiate real wage increases through collective bargaining.

But there is a problem—the Wage Standard Law of 1996, which purported to promote employment and safeguard competitiveness. In 2017, that legislation was made much more restrictive by the then government led by Charles Michel. Since then, every two years—without any...

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