Unizo encourages refugees to become entrepreneurs

Earlier this week, unions and employers said they supported a proposal by labour minister Kris Peeters to reduce the waiting time from six to four months for asylum-seekers to be allowed to work in Belgium. 

Unizo set up its own tent in the park, where refugees could be informed of the asylum procedure for finding a job or starting their own business if their applications are approved. According to a spokesperson, there is a strong desire among the refugees for various types of information. Syrians in particular are highly motivated to be self-employed; according to the publication Trading Economics, more than one in three people living in Syria are self-employed. 

Unizo’s intervention, the spokesperson said, was also a way of sending out the message that “there are among the refugees people with many skills and much potential”. Many companies in Flanders, unable to fill vacancies for skilled jobs, are looking forward to the arrival on the jobs market of the refugees, many of whom are trained and educated, according to Unizo. 

Among the interested parties are the companies represented by the construction federation and the technology federation Agoria. “We notice that there are well trained and technically skilled people among the refugees,” said Marc Dillen of the Flemish Construction Confederation (VCB). “Many of them already speak English, which will make taking them on a lot easier.”

Unizo will also be schooling its own members on the procedure for hiring asylum-seekers.

Photo: Tent camp for asylum-seekers in Brussels, where Unizo presented information on Thursday
©Pacific Press/Corbis