Molenbeek municipal job cuts due to 'loss of funding'

The Brussels municipality of Molenbeek is cutting several jobs due to losses in subsidies, according to employment alderman Amet Gjanaj (PS).

Gjanaj defended the job cuts just one day after the trade unions had issued a strike notice over them, saying the annual losses amount to almost €300,000 for the Mission Locale employment agency and around €70,000 for Molenbeek Formation, which provides training to local jobseekers.

According to the alderman, these losses are the result of various reductions or cuts to subsidies, including those for urban policy, support for the social economy, the non-profit agreement and the interface between work and training.

Staff costs account for 90% of expenditure, Gjanaj said. 

Various alternatives were explored, such as not replacing departing staff, freezing statutory pay rises, scrapping the end-of-year bonus and voluntary measures, but Gjanaj said some options face legal or financial obstacles. 

The cuts affect six posts at the Mission Locale and one at Molenbeek Formation, with decisions based on the activities of the departments. For example, the department responsible for seeking funding is to be abolished. 

Gjanaj said the procedure had been transparent, but the trade unions believe they have not received sufficient financial data to demonstrate that the redundancies are unavoidable. 

Unions are demanding that the restructuring be suspended, that alternatives be explored, and that objective criteria and safeguards against trade union discrimination be put in place. 

They are especially concerned about the number of affected employees who have held a trade union mandate or stood as candidates in the staff elections.

Gjanaj said the financial reserves are sufficient to see the organisation through this year, but the problems will worsen if expenditure is not reduced and that he had “done everything possible”.

The redundancies come at a time when labour relations are already strained. Some 40 job cuts were decided in June, divided equally between the municipal administration and the CPAS social welfare organisation.

About 40 people gathered at a recent municipal council meeting to demand guarantees against further redundancies. The Mission Locale and Molenbeek Formation are non-profit organisations separate from these institutions, but linked to the municipality.