Railway unions announce strikes starting in March

Several railway trade unions in Belgium have announced plans for a series of strikes starting in March, with rotating actions scheduled several times per month until July.

“The common trade union front reaffirms its determination to participate fully in all cross-industry actions by the entire profession and by the entire public sector,” the unions said in a joint statement.

SNCB, Infrabel and HR Rail called the action "premature and disproportionate" in their own joint statement.

The unions say they met new mobility minister Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engagés) last week and would also like to meet pension minister Jan Jambon (N-VA).

A reconciliation meeting is a step in the official procedure when a strike notice has been submitted, though is expected to yield little result as the conflict at the railway is not internal, but rather mainly against a number of measures being considered by the federal government.

Most unions, but not all of them, are united in the desire for strike actions - the smaller VSOA and ABVV unions will not be participating. The largest unions, ACOD Spoor and ACV-Transcom, are working on an action plan but its timing is not yet known.

Even without full participation from all rail-related unions, disruption is likely. Three smaller rail unions already plan to strike next week, with some changes to timetables from 22.00 on Sunday 23 February to the same time on Friday 28 February.