Belgian rail strike brings nine days of disruption

The ongoing strike by railway workers that began on Friday will continue to cause disruption on the Belgian rail network for at least nine days.

Only two trains out of five were running between the major cities at the start of this week in an effort to guarantee some level of service on the busiest lines.

“Unlike the ‘minimum’ service we have in hospitals – which implies that a minimum number of services must be provided on strike days – we have to deal with the number of strikers,” said SNCB spokesperson Tom Guillaume. “If all the train drivers decide to go on strike, no trains will run.”

Guillaume added that this has never happened before.

While bigger unions are not participating in the strike, smaller ones are able to have a major effect on their own, protesting against reforms planned by the new federal government.

Belgian railway operator SNCB announced that train services will be reduced and will vary from day to day depending on staff availability during this period. Alternative services are also being introduced.

“The SNCB travel planner will be updated each day during the strike and will display the adapted train service,” SNCB said, noting that the 900,000 daily passengers will be able to find out which trains are available 24 hours in advance.

“The impact of the strike will vary from day to day and will be greater during the week than at weekends.”

According to the schedule, after train drivers went out on strike on Monday and Tuesday, train attendants will strike on Wednesday and Thursday, and signal box and Infrabel (railway infrastructure) staff on strike on Friday 28 February and Saturday 1 March.

On Sunday 2 March, all categories of staff will be free to strike or not.

Chief among complaints from railway workers regarding the federal reform is the removal of a preferential rule that allows them to retire at the age of 55, provided they have worked for 30 years as a train driver or attendant.

The new government intends to reform this preferential scheme, like others of its kind, and gradually raise the retirement age to 67, as is the case for most workers.

“A train driver, and all staff in general, get up at all hours of the day and night,” unionist Jérôme Meurice said.

“We work holidays and weekends. That's why we retired at 55. We also have a lot of responsibilities. That was one of the advantages we had left, to be able to retire earlier.”

The method of calculating pensions would also be changed to take account of earnings throughout a person's career, and not just earnings in the last few years of work, which Meurice said would mean “we're going to work longer to earn less”.

The unions are also denouncing budget cuts at SNCB and fear a deterioration in working conditions. They also point to recruitment difficulties and are concerned about the government's desire to reform the railways' personnel management structure.

The incoming government plans to reform HR Rail, the umbrella organisation that manages the staff of both SNCB and Infrabel. Instead of HR Rail handling recruitment, SNCB and Infrabel would each recruit their own staff and manage them. The unions fear that this reform will threaten the gains made by staff.

A general strike that would also include the larger railway unions is scheduled for 31 March. Rail unions are planning two strike days a month between now and July, likely on a rotating basis, for example by district.