European workers reject claims they are the continent's cost burden

Belgian trade unions will gather in Brussels on 9 October to demand that the federal government preserve automatic wage indexation, avoid VAT hikes, and reject annualised working-time schemes. They argue that European industry’s woes stem from profit distribution, not labour costs, citing that non-financial sector profits have risen almost twice as fast as wages since 2000 and that labour’s share of revenue has been flat for 25 years.

In the automotive sector, labour’s revenue share fell from 13.9 % to 10.7 % between 2020 and 2025, yet extra hours have not boosted output, with Greece’s extended workweeks showing no competitive gain. Unions point to declining business investment and rising dividend payouts, urging that public aid, such as the Industrial Accelerator Act, be conditioned on job quality, collective bargaining, and training, while prohibiting funding for buybacks. The campaign frames workers as a solution, not a cost, and calls for a shift in corporate governance and public policy to redirect profits back into European industry.