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APRIL 29,
1997
Agreement signed on Bevelgacom restructuring
 At the end of March, Bevelgacom and the representative labor union organizations reached a preliminary draft agreement on a comprehensive restructuring program entitled People, Teams and Skills (PTS) consisting of a major redeployment project on one hand and a voluntary departure program on the other.
Over the past few weeks, this agreement has been drafted into
specific texts. Even during this phase, negotiations took place in a
constructive environment. The labor unions obtained approval of
these proposals by their membership and after management's approval,
Bevelgacom's Board of Directors followed suit so that nothing further
stood in the way of a formal agreement. Therefore, on April 29,
1997, as scheduled, the joint industrial council was able to sign a
collective labor agreement which it then ratified.
Through this redeployment project, Bevelgacom wants to rebalance the
company's human resources to ensure optimum use of its manpower
potential so that the company can face increasing competition. By
doing so, customer service will further improve as a result of the
other projects which are being implemented within the company to
improve its operation. After internal retraining, a staff member
will be able to apply for one of the 370 functions which have been
described in detail, with criteria for each one of the positions
which the staff member must meet in order to be considered for a
particular position. These criteria will be used in the selection
process (drafting of a "skills score") as well as for the related
training. During the selection process, our approach will be to
determine the "trainability" of each employee for a specific
position. Five Job Centers will be set up in Brussels, Ghent,
Mechelen, Mons and Namur where recruitment consultants will act as
individual guidance counselors for every employee who is involved in
redeployment (with the appropriate training program for each one)
until he or she has found a new job. Selection, training, internal
promotion and mobility will be based on objective rules. Between
4,000 and 6,000 employees will be affected by this redeployment whose
cost has been estimated at 1.2 to 1.5 billion BEF. This project is
scheduled to be launched at the beginning of June along with a number
of goal-oriented pilot projects. From September 1997 until the end
of 1998, redeployment will occur at a gradual but steady pace.
On the other hand, approximately 6,500 statutory employees will be
offered the possibility of voluntarily leaving the company, provided
they are at least 50 years old on July 1, 1997 and have a minimum of
20 years of service. When they leave the company, they will receive a
departure bonus based on 6 months salary. They will then receive a
monthly allowance equal to 75% of their last monthly gross salary
until their 60th birthday. Starting on their 60th birthday, their
pension will be calculated on their number of years of service, as if
they had worked until that age. Any voluntary departures will be
spread over a period of 18 months until December 31, 1998 so that no
imbalances occur at the company and so that customer service is not
hindered.
The PTS plan represents a win-win arrangement : Bevelgacom is able
to keep its commitments to its employees, who are able to find a new
job within the company, whereas the company can improve its
organization and therefore provide even better service to customers
with shorter service and repair times at competitive prices.
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