Non-violent union strike causes major disruption to transport

The first of a series of strikes yesterday hit public transport and shipping hard but had little effect on business, with most private sector companies able to operate as usual. The strike in Antwerp, Limburg, Hainaut and Luxembourg provinces will be followed on subsequent Mondays by similar actions in the rest of the country’s provinces.

Unions are protesting at the federal and Flemish government’s austerity measures, including raising the pension age and wage freezes.

The strike was already making itself felt on Sunday afternoon. No ships were allowed to enter the ports of Ghent and Antwerp from midday, or to leave either port from an hour later. Traffic was stopped at the port of Zeebrugge from 17.00. In all three ports, traffic was not expected to get back to normal until late today.

All freight traffic in the ports came to a standstill, with pickets set up outside factories and extra reinforcements sent in to keep order during shift changes. Trouble anticipated from the dock workers remained largely absent. Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever said he was “relieved, but not happy”.

Rail traffic was virtually non-existent in Limburg and Antwerp, leading to no peak time trains from either province to Brussels. Some passengers were stranded on Sunday evening, having assumed the strike would only begin on Monday morning. Traditionally, railway worker strikes begin at 22.00 the evening before.

Public transport authority De Lijn reported severe problems with buses and trams in Antwerp, where only one bus in 10 was running, and in Limburg, where there were no buses at all.

Rail union ASTB has announced that its members will take part in a nationwide strike on December 11 for 24 hours starting at 3.00. The union is protesting at a “lack of coherence” in the system of premiums paid to drivers.

photo: Workers block an entrance of the port of Antwerp during yesterday’s strike

©Yves Herman/REUTERS