La concertation sociale au temps du coronavirus. Enjeux et perspectives du premier confinement en Belgique

From the start of the coronavirus health crisis, decisions regarding work and employment ? traditional objects of social dialogue ? were taken by politicians. In this article, we question the place and role of Belgian employer?s and union?s representatives in the decisions leading to containment and then to decontainment through a chronological analysis (the announcement of confinement, its organization and monitoring, preparation for deconfinement). Based on ten semi-structured interviews in these decisions and in social dialogue, at different levels (political, cross-sectoral, sectoral, company) in Belgium, we show how and under which conditions dialogue was evaded and then re-established. We then identify the possible lasting traces that this episode could leave on the dynamic of social concertation, in the form of scenarios: 1) a more partnershipbased social dialogue; 2) a more agile crisis dialogue; 3) an unchanged social dialogue.