Pilots to strike over plans to raise retirement age

Belgium’s joint trade union front has filed a notice for a national strike for the entire Belgian aviation sector - for a date yet to be confirmed.

Unions are protesting against the federal government’s pension reform plans, which set the retirement age at 66 despite the fact that European regulations prohibit any pilot from flying once they reach the age of 65.

Pilots in Belgium lose their licenses automatically at that age, according to CNE union secretary Didier Lebbe, who said that at least one pilot has just been dismissed by Brussels Airline without compensation as a result.

Together with the Belgian Cockpit Association (BeCA), the professional organisation for Belgian pilots, unions warn of a "serious contradiction" between Belgian pension legislation and European aviation regulations and say they have long been concerned about a "legal vacuum" regarding this scenario.

“It’s unacceptable that the minister for pensions should tell the sector to ‘sort it out itself’, and that this sector should then terminate contracts before the legal retirement age has even been reached,” said Lebbe.

“It’s not certain that the National Employment Office (Onem) will allow [the dismissed pilot] to claim unemployment benefit until he retires.

"He will also automatically face a penalty on his pension, and this penalty will be even more severe when the retirement age rises to 67."

Unions released a statement calling the situation "fundamentally untenable" and said the decision to file the strike notice was not taken lightly, and that they had initially wanted to avoid industrial action in the sector.

“But discontent over this pensions fiasco is particularly high,” they said. “Without swift and clear measures, this situation risks worsening.”

Unions point out that pilots find themselves in a “particularly unfair” situation because they have no choice. From a medical and legal standpoint, they are prohibited from flying after the age of 65 and must cease their main occupation, and European regulations leave no room for interpretation on this matter.

Brussels Airlines said it indeed terminated the contract of the pilot concerned, and that it was calling on the authorities to find a solution to this “administrative deadlock”.

The airline company also said it regrets the strike notice, given that the sector has already been significantly affected by industrial actions this year and last year, related to the proposed federal measures that are outside of its control.

“In the current geopolitical context, it would be irresponsible to further disrupt the Belgian aviation sector through strike action, when the industry itself cannot provide a solution to the concerns raised,” Brussels Airlines said.

The airline called on the parties to find a solution “through dialogue or to make their voices heard by means that do not harm our passengers, our colleagues or the company”.

But while pensions minister Jan Jambon said he understood the concerns of the sector, he does not envisage a ‘selective reduction’ in the retirement age and believes the debate should be handled at the European level.

Jambon claims a growing number of experts are calling for a change to the age limit for pilots so that it is based on objective medical and cognitive criteria, rather than exclusively on age.

Jambon, who announced in February that this would be his final term, added that the raising of the statutory retirement age was a decision taken by a previous government and that many pilots will already be eligible for early retirement from the age of 65.

The minister has also previously said that pilots simply had to become flight instructors, rather than pilots, for their last year of employment.

Unions say the argument that airlines must resolve the problem by offering pilots alternative roles fails to recognise the reality on the ground.

“It’s not up to the airlines to find a solution, but to the federal government, which has taken decisions regarding the end of careers that do not take reality into account,” said Lebbe, adding that a flight instructor also still needs a pilot’s licence.

“It’s not up to us to pay for the Belgian government’s shortcomings. In all other countries, there are early retirement schemes where pilots can retire even before the age of 65.”