FLAGRANT ABUSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27580, 23 December 1950, Page 2

FLAGRANT ABUSES

Unemployment Benefit In Belgium

By Eric Kennedy, Reuter’s Correspondent in Brussels

Belgian Labour officials have declared an all-out war on a small minority of the population whom they describe as “the professionally' unemployed.” Their investigations to date have revealed considerable abuse of the nation’s unemployment benefit schemes, in spite of the fact that Belgians are, in the main, a working people. Most of the country’s 160,000 unemployed are genuinely in search of regular work, but an official purge of those who will not work led to the removal of 4432 from the lists of those drawing weekly “ dole.” Of this total, 31 per cent, lost their right to claim benefits for refusing to accept work offered them by labour exchanges. Another 18 per cent, were removed from the lists for defrauding the authorities.

Recent changes in the conditions which the unemployed must fulfil before they can qualify for the dole failed to stop the abuse. Several loopholes still exist, and all sections of the Belgian public have been amazed by some of the revelations contained in the daily and weekly press. The Brussels Sunday newspaper, Le Phare, recently published an article entitled “ Why Work? ” Le Phare recalled that in Belgium, as in most other countries, men have their own special “bistro” (public house or bar) in which to meet to discuss business. “ The same applies to the professmnally unemployed. In- every Belgian locality they use one particular bistro chosen as tneir centre,” Le Phare said. The -article cited as an example one bistro in Eastern Flanders, not far from the Dutch frontier. The first thing which strikes the newcomer to the ever-crowded cafe is a huge, handpainted sign over the.bar, reading, “No One Works Here.” “ Jean, the jovial patron, is officially unemployed; he signs on six days a week and collects his dole each Saturday.” The cafe, according to the records, belongs to his wife.j “The waitress, invariably generously tipped by customers, is also on the dole. She goes to the cafe each day, she says, ‘ to give a helping hand to her friends who own the place’ .' , For comfort and service, the article explained, the cafe is far superior to many of the smarter clubs in Brussels. A pleasantly toned radiogram plays a variety of tne more up-to-date records throughout the day. Newspapers and periodicals are readily available —including Le Moniteur, the Belgian official gazette, which is the most widely read publication in the bistro. It is closely read and re-read by customers in search of news of any changes in the rates of unemployment benefits. Contrary j! to expectations, the “ National ” half pint which sells at about 9d, is not • the most popular beverage among customers. Most popular are spirits, which are sold illegally since, their sale m ' Belgian cafes is forbidden. They cost: about 3s a tot. . ... The article quoted an interview with one of the customers. The man, about 45, said he received just over 10s a day on the dole. His wife, also on the dole because she worked for two; years after the liberation, received £2 5s a week. The eldest of their eight children was working. His wages totalled £3 4s a week. State family allowances received for each of the seven other children averaged over £2\ a month. ' . Agreeing that he got along all right, the customer admitted that he had a sideline, “Tl>e Dutch frontier is not so far away and I should be silly if I did not,” he explained. “To- ensure a few extra francs for myself'l do a bit of smuggling.” He smuggles French spirits, already smuggled into Belgium, into Holland. On the way back, he smuggles Dutch spirits into Belgium. “ Sometimes I run a few head of cattle over the border,’ he added. + ' Another couple, man and wife and regular customers in the Eastern.. Flanders Cafe, were qualified cooks.Each year, they said, they work at the seaside from June until August., Their : joint income over the "three months; totals more than £357 sterling. For the other nine months of the year they, can live comfortably by signing on as unemployed.