Strikes Continue Against Austerity in Belgium

Parts of Belgium have come to a halt as transport strikes by public sectors workers intensified Tuesday. Workers are protesting against the government's social and economic policies, which includes budget cuts.

RELATED:
Anti-Austerity Strike, Campesino Protests Rock Colombia

Train drivers have been on strike for six consecutive days, causing serious disruptions in the capital of Brussels where only limited services of buses, metros and trams were running.

Thousands of workers including transport workers, teachers and firefighters gathered for large protests in Brussels and Ghent, calling attention to the center-right government’s cuts to public services.

In the French-speaking South of Wallonia, there were almost no trains running. Unions had vowed that no transport services would run in the French-speaking city of Charleroi. In the Dutch-speaking regions of the North, around 50 percent of services were reportedly running normally.

Over the last week an estimated 60,000 protesters have been demonstrating against the government. A number of trade unions have been protesting against government changes to labor laws including plans to increase the retirement age; to make it easier for companies to employ workers on part-time and short-term contracts; and to extend the working-week to 45 hours.

Trade unions argue that the changes are an attack on Belgium’s welfare state and will lead to the introduction of zero-hour contracts for workers.

RELATED:
France Approves Unpopular Labor Reforms by Presidential Decree

"They keep on taking away the few advantages we got, and we feel an increasing pressure at work, so we are completely stretched," said a postal service worker according to ABC News.

The General Federation of Belgian Labor, a union with an estimated 1.5 million members called for a general strike on June 24 to protest against “austerity and labor-market flexibility.”

The latest strikes put further pressure on the Belgian government, where prison guards have been on strike for around five weeks over poor working conditions and overcrowding.