National strike day in Belgium: shops open, some distribution centers blocked

On the national strike day in Belgium on Wednesday, most shops remain open, but some supermarket chains face blockades at distribution centers. Production has come to a standstill at factories belonging to Coca-Cola, Mars, Mondelez, and Barry Callebaut, among others.

Awareness campaigns

After the strike days in public transport and government services on Monday and Tuesday, all eyes are on the impact in the private sector on Wednesday. In the retail sector in particular, it appears that most shops remain open as usual. However, there are awareness-raising actions by the unions, including on the Meir in Antwerp, at the Malinas retail park in Mechelen, and at stores of Albert Heijn, AS Adventure, and Decathlon.

Activists have set up blockades at some distribution centers of supermarket chains. This is the case, for example, at the Delhaize DC in Zellik, where a filter blockade does not, however, prevent the normal supply of stores.

Store supplies not affected

There are also filter blockades at the Colruyt Group distribution center in Ollignies. The one in Ghislenghien is even temporarily closed, but store supplies are not affected. There is no strike picket at the largest DC, Dassenveld. A few stores remain closed on Wednesday morning, mainly in Wallonia. They are expected to open later in the day.

At Aldi, the vast majority of stores are open, but there is a strike at one distribution center. There is also a strike at Lidl‘s distribution center in Sint-Niklaas. Carrefour is experiencing little disruption: the vast majority of its more than 700 shops are open.

Factories at a standstill

Production has come to a standstill at several large manufacturers. This is the case, for example, at the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Ghent and at Barry Callebaut in Wieze. The Mondelez factories in Herentals will remain closed for 24 hours. There have been tensions between unions and management at the company for some time. This is also the case at Mars in Olen, where the factory will close at the end of next year.

We will publish updates to this article throughout the day.