"Sans syndicat, le fonctionnaire n'est rien". 100 ans CSC Services Publics

The history of the Belgian Christian public servants union opens a window on the evolution of the public sector and the social struggle of the civil service during the past century, clearly underresearched topics for the Belgian context. The project allowed us to compose, for the first time, a more or less reliable statistical overview of the number of civil servants in Belgium during the past two centuries. Important issues are the expansion of the public sector, the working conditions of the civil service, the creation and evolution of the civil service statute (1937), the civil service pension (from 1844 onwards) and the incorporation of this professional category into the sickness and invalidity insurance scheme (1965), the right of association and the right to strike of public servants, the slow recognition of their trade unions, their mutual relations and the peculiar organisation of social consultation in this sector. International contacts and operations are also discussed in detail. The analysis shows that a good understanding of the history of the public sector and the (sometimes highly technical) social struggle of public servants are essential to understand their specific characteristics and social rights.