Three days of strike action for 24-26 November

A three-day national strike is planned for 24, 25 and 26 November, as unions fulfill their promise of further actions following the national demonstration on 14 October.

“Despite the scale of the mobilisation, we have received no response, only deafening silence from the government,” the trade unions said in a joint statement.

“Worse still, the prime minister presented an indigestible menu during the budget discussions, which would once again hit families and workers hard: a jump in indexation, even more savings on pensions, and an increase in VAT.”

The action will involve public services, public transport, education and industry, RTBF reports.

On Monday 24 November, the strike action will affect railways and public transport. On Tuesday 25 November, the unions are calling for a strike in all public services. On Wednesday 26 November, a national inter-professional strike will take place.

Industrial action and work stoppages are to be expected from the start of the new school year on 3 November and a separate, one-day strike has also been announced in the education sector on Monday 10 November.

Dubbed "the November appeal", the three-day action is in protest against austerity measures from the new federal government, especially in regards to pensions.

“The chaos surrounding the pension measures is now enormous. More than half of the women in our country will be affected by the pension penalty,” unions said in their letter.

“In terms of flexibility and working hours, the government has already proposed numerous harsh and unfair measures.”

The unions say three days of strike action are a call to prime minister Bart De Wever and the entire government to “put an end to social dismantling”.

“These measures have not yet been voted on, so there is still time to adjust them,” they wrote, suggesting alternatives such as "greater fiscal justice with a tax on large fortunes, a tax on the digital activities of technology giants and a serious review of the billions in subsidies granted to companies".

Unions are also calling for "a simple rule whereby every salary is subject to social security contributions, whether it comes from a management company or not".

The Flemish employers’ organisation Voka called the trade unions’ intention to strike "incomprehensible and irresponsible in these difficult economic times", according to managing director Frank Beckx.

“We are already experiencing the highest number of collective redundancies in the last 12 years,” said Beckx.

“A three-day strike will cause unnecessary damage to our economy. We call on the trade unions to behave responsibly. Only together can we overcome this crisis.”

But while Voka says the struggles of corporations and employers are more pressing than those of workers, entrepreneurs’ organisation Unizo claims it is entrepreneurs who are suffering the most.

“Four out of ten SMEs are affected by strike action, while barely 3% of employees actually participate,” said managing director Bart Buysse.

“Entrepreneurs are bearing the brunt of the damage. This is no longer sustainable.”