Belgian unions encourage women to strike on 8 March

Women in Belgium are being encouraged not to perform any paid or unpaid work on 8 March, to mark International Women’s Day.

The Socialist union FGTB and the Christian service union ACV Puls have submitted strike notices for a feminist strike on Monday.

Due to the submitted notices, people who are affiliated with FGTB or ACV Puls will be entitled to strike or campaign that day and still receive compensation.

The Christian trade union CSC did not file a general strike notice, but supports the 8 March strike.

The feminist group Collectif 8 Mars is asking people who identify as women and/or gender minorities to not only stop working and caretaking, but also to refrain from studying and consuming on Monday for 24 hours, because "when women stop, the world stops".

Strike rallies and feminist actions will take place in Antwerp, Brussels, Charleroi, Ghent, Hasselt, Kortrijk, Leuven, Liège, Louvain-la-Neuve, Namur and Tournai.

Collectif 8 Mars stated that “the women's strike is to bring attention to "violence against women, economic inequality, discrimination, and an unequal burden of domestic work."

The latter has been exacerbated "by the health crisis, the economic crisis and the democratic crisis that we are going through".