Vooruit wants to increase minimum wages to 2,500 euros per month: “Many more people will want to work this way”

Vooruit wants to increase minimum wages by 500 euros per month, to 2,500 euros. Chairman Melissa Depraetere launched this proposal on the eve of May 1. “With a higher minimum wage, many more people will want to work,” it says.

On the eve of May 1, Labor Day, the socialists gather as usual to celebrate their high day. During that meeting in the port of Ghent, Melissa Depraetere once again encouraged her troops in the run-up to the elections. The Vooruit chairman’s May 1 speech also contained a striking proposal to increase minimum wages by no less than 500 euros. Today the minimum wage in Belgium is around 13 euros per hour. If it depends on the Socialists, that amount should increase to 15 euros per hour after the elections. This means an increase from approximately 2,000 euros to 2,500 euros on a monthly basis.

“All people who go to work every day deserve a wage that they can live on,” Depraetere said. But the chairman is mainly marketing the increase in minimum wages as an instrument to increase the difference between working and not working. “With a higher minimum wage, many more people will want to work,” it says.

“All people who go to work every day deserve a wage that they can live on. With a higher minimum wage, many more people will want to work”

Melissa Depraetere

Chairman Vooruit

One step further

Earlier in the election campaign, the French-speaking socialists already launched a similar proposal. The PS even goes a step further than Vooruit. Chairman Paul Magnette is aiming for an increase to 2,800 euros per month, or 17 euros per hour. That proposal then received support from the business world. They fear that the wage increases will end up on their account. “If the intention is to increase people’s net income, this must be done through tax reforms and a more efficient public company,” the Federation of Belgian Enterprises (VBO) responded to the PS plans at the time.

Vooruit’s proposal is part of a broader package of measures to protect purchasing power. Depraetere also wants to tinker with the wage standard law. This determines how much wage costs may increase. “We must allow unions to really negotiate again for higher wages,” said Depraetere. “If a profit is made, the people who do the work should still benefit from it.” In addition, Vooruit also wants to maintain the automatic indexation of wages.