Belgian rail unions’ threat of nine-day strike fails to get applause

Whether the action can count on much sympathy remains to be seen, but the trade unions VSOA Spoor and OVS have submitted notices for a railway strike of no less than nine days, from 21 February at 10 pm to 2 March at 10 pm.

The strike is mainly directed against a number of measures on the table federally, such as an increase in the retirement age for staff of the Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB, the evolution of the statute, a bill to abolish HR Rail, and a reduction in funds for the railway company, which the unions say will lead to another need for an increase in productivity and staff flexibility.

Tighten the belt

The new De Wever government has decided that train drivers and attendants’ retirement age will be gradually raised to the legal retirement age of 67, as for most Belgians. Thus, nursing staff—today, train drivers and attendants can already retire from the age of 55. Along with that longer retirement comes a lower pension.

At the same time, besides introducing a Swiss model with smooth interchange modules between different modes of transport, the new Arizona government wants to make train supply demand-driven. That implies that busy lines should be strengthened while reducing the number of stops at low-demand places and smaller stations that will disappear.

Finally, the new government also wants railway manager Infrabel and NMBS/SCNB to return to running their own human resources department rather than being run by the joint subsidiary HR-rail. That department, the legal employer of railway staff, will also be subject to a recruitment freeze. Moreover, NMBS/SNCB also must make savings: 50 million euros this year and 250 million euros by 2029.

Social unrest

Because of those measures in the new coalition agreement, rail unions are now gearing up for “the toughest fight in decades.” The train drivers’ union ASTB plans to strike for five days, but VSOA and OVS, two smaller rail unions, want to strike for nine days at the end of February.

The biggest rail unions, ACOD Spoor and ACV-Transcom are also working on a plan of action. However, it is not yet clear whether their timing will match that of the other unions. Tomorrow, the new federal Mobility Minister, Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engagés), is scheduled to meet.

Anyway, you slice it. It looks like we will have a spring with much social unrest. On Thursday, for instance, over 50,000 demonstrators are expected at the national trade union action against the new government plans, a protest that some want to continue for an entire legislature.

No flights will leave Brussels Airport and Charleroi Airport tomorrow, either, and there will be no arriving flights as air traffic controllers have joined the action. Do not count on STIB/MIVB, TEC, De Lijn buses, trams, and metros, as they will not all be running, just as Bpost services have been disrupted.

Slap in the face

CD&V president Sammy Mahdi, meanwhile, is not happy about some rail unions’ pledges to organize a monster strike. “Organizing total chaos on the railways because you are the only sector that can no longer retire at 55? It’s totally irresponsible,” he says.

Mahdi, who was at the negotiating table, speaks of “a slap in the face of passengers, but also of other workers in other sectors who have much less favorable regimes and of our children who are counting on our generation to secure their retirement.”

“If we don’t want to saddle our children and grandchildren with a social security system that is completely stripped or taxed to death to fill budget pits, we have no choice but to address some of the outdated schemes of the past and ensure that the efforts are shared fairly among everyone,” Mahdi said.

The sclerosis of age..

A commentary in the newspaper De Standaard has roughly a similar tone. Chief editor Karel Verhoeven not only calls the proclamation of a nine-day strike “absurd” or “grotesque” but also writes that the “rage” of strikers and demonstrators mainly reflects the deeply cherished desire for the earliest possible retirement.

However, he also points out that the new coalition agreement drastically shrinks the safety net for working part-time and those who are sick longer, especially at the end of their career. “Welfare cover against bad luck will gradually require more expensive private insurance,” Verhoeven writes, immediately bridging the gap to another hot political issue closely linked to the pension: migration.

After all, “the average age of the protesters, and all Belgians, is continuing to rise,” which means we should rightly ask ourselves, “How to support this aging population materially and culturally.” For example, the Planning Bureau yesterday calculated that by 2070, for every 100 Belgians working, there will be 43 who are over 67. That’s two working people for one retired person.

“Retiring as early as possible and as few migrants as possible, two popular signs, will not work,” Verhoeven writes. “That leaves only the sclerosis of age, not commitment and wisdom.”