Rail unions ACOD Spoor and ACV-Transcom have announced that they will organise eighteen strike days over the next five months.
The unions are fiercely opposed to the pension measures and the savings on the NMBS that the De Wever government is implementing. The first action will take place on Monday 17 March, when all railway employees will go on strike. From April to July, four strike days will follow each month, but the unions do not want to give any further details about this for the time being.
In addition to the announced actions, ACOD Spoor and ACV-Transcom will also participate in the general strike of the public services on 31 March. The strike notice applies to all NMBS employees and their subsidiaries. In a press release, the unions state that the federal government is undermining pension rights and speak of a “blatant breach of contract”.
bad blood
The budget trajectory of the Arizona government shows that 675 million euros must be saved at the NMBS in the next five years. This means that the railways, which have been struggling with cutbacks for years, will have to tighten their belts again. According to the unions, this inevitably means a further reduction in staff and an increase in workload. "We know the drill by now: even fewer staff and more productivity," according to a joint statement from the socialist and Christian unions.
The railways have been in troubled waters for years. The punctuality of the trains remains a major problem and the workload for the staff is constantly increasing. According to the unions, the government has been making savings on the railways for decades and this has only led to poorer service. “Savings have been made on the railways for 20 years and punctuality has been decreasing all that time. Even with a minimum service, the trains are being limited. Everyone can see that things are going wrong,” says Günther Blauwens, chairman of ACOD Spoor.
The unions state that although regular consultations are taking place with Minister of Mobility Jean-Luc Crucke (MR), they have still not received any response from Minister of Pensions Jan Jambon (N-VA). This lack of communication is further fueling the unions' anger. "We have repeatedly asked for consultations, but Minister Jambon remains silent. This is unacceptable to us," they say.
The strikes are expected to cause major disruptions to train traffic in the coming months. NMBS has not yet announced detailed plans on how it intends to limit the inconvenience for passengers, but the impact will undoubtedly be significant. Passenger organisations fear that the chaos on the railways will increase and point out that train users will suffer as a result of the conflict between the unions and the government.
The coming weeks will make it clear whether there will be an opening for negotiations or whether the strikes will actually continue. The unions have already announced that they will not hesitate to take further action if the government does not meet their demands.
