Street sweepers City of Brussels ‘only get a permanent contract when they move’
Street sweepers who work for the City of Brussels through an employment project have been waiting for a major contract for years. “Move to Brussels City first,” they would have been told. City councilor David Weytsman (MR) raise the subject in the community. Authorized alderman Faouzia Hariche (PS) denies that the City is exerting pressure to move.
La Libre and RTBF four of the street sweepers, who have been working for the City of Brussels for four to ten years through an employment contract of a PWA. A PWA (local employment agency) ensures the involvement of the long-term unemployed and job seekers of people with a living wage. The goal is two expenses: to get people used to the labor market and to give people the opportunity to earn something extra without losing their money.
“A contract with a PWA is intended to make a transition to a sustainable job,” says the employee of MR party leader David Weytsman. BRUZZ† “These people want to work, but are being run in precarity.” The street sweepers testify in the French-language press that they earn about 4.10 euros per hour, or 184.50 euros per month, plus 11 euros for transport.
The removals will be given that they first have to move to Brussels City before they get a permanent contract. “These people are good enough to keep doing their job for years, but they don’t move on,” Weytsman says again. “They see people come in with less experience, who move to the City of Brussels, and do get the job.”
Weytsman will ask the college of aldermen during the next city council to provide a list of people who have had an employment contract with the PWA for more than five years in order to get an overview.
‘Permanent jobs not reserved’
The alderman of Personnel Policy Faouzia Hariche (PS) denies that permanent contracts are primarily reserved for residents of Brussels City. “All people with a PWA employment trajectory can apply to the City of Brussels,” says spokeswoman Thaïs De Bontridder.
“There are many candidates who apply for our permanent jobs. We only hire the best people. In our workforce there are also a lot of people who live outside the city.” When asked why people continue to work in an employment project for so long, the Hariche cabinet does not want to respond.
The spokesman for Bernard Clerfayt (Défi), Minister of Local Government, noted that “it is prohibited to set huge quotas of recruitments based on the place of residence,” without commenting on this particular case. “If someone feels that he or she is not being hired because he or she is not in the municipality that is getting the job, he or she can file a complaint.”