The European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) adopted during its 342nd session (1-3 July 2024) in Vilnius:
The complaint was registered on 6 February 2024. It relates to Article 6§2 (the right to collective bargaining) of the revised European Social Charter. The organisations ETUC, CGSLB, CSC and FGTB allege that Law of 26 July 1996 on the promotion of employment and the preventive safeguarding of competitiveness (“1996 Wage Law”), as amended in 2017, which grants the Belgian Government the possibility of imposing in advance a maximum margin for negotiated wage increases, constitutes a significant interference in the autonomy of the parties to collective bargaining, thereby violating Article 6§2 of the Charter. More specifically, the complainant organisations allege that the Government's ability to determine this margin for wage increases unilaterally restricts the possibility for the social partners to freely negotiate wage conditions, which is an essential component of freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, as provided for in Article 6§2 of the Charter. The complainant organisations further allege that the restrictions imposed by the 1996 Wage Law, as amended in 2017, do not comply with the conditions set out in Article G of the Charter.
The ECSR unanimously declared the complaint admissible on 1 July 2024.
• The decision on the merits in European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) v. Czech Republic, Complaint No. 191/2020
The complaint was registered on 19 February 2020. It relates to Article 16 (right of the family to social, legal and economic protection) of the 1961 Charter read alone or in the light of the non-discrimination principle contained in the preamble of the 1961 Charter. In its complaint, FEANTSA alleged that the legislation, policy and practice in the Czech Republic with regard to housing are not compatible with Article 16 of the 1961 Charter read alone or in the light of the non-discrimination clause contained in the Preamble of the 1961 Charter because of:
- ongoing threats to security of tenure and risk of eviction for poor households living in hostels (substandard flats/rooms in private buildings where residents do not have standard rental contract) in socially excluded localities, in particular affecting the Roma minority;
- absence of social housing legislation and disproportionate reductions in housing supplements (housing allowance and housing benefit) despite the continuing need for such supplements;
- designation of some territorial areas as ineligible for certain forms of housing benefit by municipalities;
- intensification of social and racial discrimination, including racial segregation as well as social control measures that have a negative impact on the effective exercise of housing rights, in particular the requirements of Registered Permanent Residence (“RPR”) to which certain categories of persons do not have access.
Pursuant to Article 8§2 of the Protocol providing for a system of collective complaints, this decision will not be made public until after the Committee of Ministers has adopted a resolution or a recommendation, or no later than four months after it has been transmitted to the Committee of Ministers.
• The decision on the merits in European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) v. Belgium, Complaint No. 195/2020
The complaint was registered on 27 April 2020. It concerns 1§2 (the right to work), 11§1 and 3 (the right to protection of health), 12§1 (the right to social security), 13§1 (the right to social and medical assistance), 16 (the right of the family to social, legal and economic protection),17 (the right of children and young persons to social, legal and economic protection), 30 (the right to protection against poverty and social exclusion), 31 (the right to housing) and E (non-discrimination) of the revised European Social Charter. In its complaint, ERRC alleged that, in the context of police operations carried out by the Belgian police on 4 and 5 April 2020 targeting two Travellers’ sites in the Couillet and Jumet areas of the municipality of Charleroi, families, including children, sick persons and a pregnant woman, had their caravans and property seized. ERRC alleged that these police operations were carried out without taking into account considerations of proportionality and without offering an alternative solution for the families concerned, such as provision of alternative accommodation, access to water, sanitation, electricity, food and medical services, and exposed the affected families to hardships and health risks, including those associated with Covid-19, in breach of Articles 1§2, 11§§1 and 3, 12§1, 13§1, 16, 17, 30 of the Charter. ERRC also considered that these operations amounted to ethnically targeted collective punishment in breach of Article E in conjunction with each of the aforementioned provisions of the Charter.
Pursuant to Article 8§2 of the Protocol providing for a system of collective complaints, this decision will not be made public until after the Committee of Ministers has adopted a resolution or a recommendation, or no later than four months after it has been transmitted to the Committee of Ministers.
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