Indeed. HR has incentives to side with the employer, where a union rep has incentives to side with the employee. In Belgium, every company of a certain size is

Indeed. HR has incentives to side with the employer, where a union rep has incentives to side with the employee. In Belgium, every company of a certain size is required to have a union rep. They provide a lot of services you would expect HR to provide: being the point of contact for complains, clarify certain rights and obligations, etc. Even when a national holiday falls on a weekend, the company has to agree with the union rep how that will be recuperated. Unions in Belgium typically do not negotiate salaries, except for cases where there's statutes involved (e.g. gov workers like teachers).