Articles
Author: Léon-Eli Troclet
I . Confronted with the acuteness of the socio-economic problems the two major labour organizations (i.e. : the socialist and the christiandemocratic trade union confederation) have in 1976 strengthened their «Common Trade Unions' Front» (with about two million members on a total of 2,300,000 wage- and salary earners in Belgium) in view of their negotiations with employers and with the government, to which the trade unions have submitted a common platform.
The common front, that has its antecedents on the local, regional and professional level has never been and never will be of a permanent nature, some sort of organic unit. Each confederation maintains its own identity and the front is meant to be re-animated according to the circumstances.
II. From the employers' side (and to some extent completely independent from the trade unions' common front) representatives of employers' organizations have «as a personal point of view» and, no doubt, as a preliminary approach, launched the idea that a new and very comprehensive «social pact» should be negotiated. The socialist trade unions clearly tend to reject this idea, since it may
well lead to a further integration in the capitalist system, whereas the christiandemocratic union seems to be rather in favour of such a pact.
In the present state of affairs (end of June, 1977) the probability that it be realized is rather low indeed.
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How to Cite: Troclet, L. (1977) “Front commun syndical et nouveau pacte social”, Res Publica. 19(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/rp.v19i2.19476