National strike in Belgium on 15 December

“Against blind cost-cutting measures”

The new governmental agreement has only been approved one week ago, but the labour unions have already decided they will protest these “blind cost-cutting measures”. The national strike will probably be on 15 December.

The three labour unions say they have now only threatened to strike, but add a lot will have to change before they will consider cancelling the strike. The main reason for the strike is the index jump, which means that wages will not increase when the cost of living does. Additional actions may occur prior to the national strike.

When the governmental agreement was announced, it became apparent quite fast that the labour unions would not sit idly by. Particularly the ACV (the Christian-oriented labour union) resisted the new measures, feeling betrayed by its political counterpart in the government. “This is the final straw in a field full of absolute horror”, ACV president Marc Leemans said.