Belgian Rail Workers Strike Against Cuts

The crisis in capitalism is a global one and workers in all countries face similar challenges. Rail workers are taking action in parallel disputes in many countries, which now include Belgium. The politicians everywhere mouth pietisms about global warming, yet in practice they are cutting back on investment in railways, one of the most environmentally friendly forms of travel. In Belgium, a small but relatively wealthy country, budgetary cuts mean that without additional resources, 700 km of railway lines are threatened with disappearance, along with 2,000 jobs. Belgian railway workers, who also face cuts in real wages, have had enough and are organizing the resistance.

Belgian railways are already under strain. 22,000 trains were canceled over the last year. That’s one train out of 30, a record number. Punctuality has also gone down, after an upturn during the Covid period. The reason is disinvestment and a glaring lack of staff. The government has promised a wholly inadequate package of support for SNCB (which runs the trains) and Infrabel (which manages and maintains the tracks). But the package also involved closures of ticket offices, price increases and an end to the ticket for large families, which encourages people to get off the roads and onto trains.

The Belgian government’s answer is a familiar one: workers need to do more with less. The package proposes a reduction of 2,000 jobs, while increasing the number of timetabled journeys 1% per year for the next ten years, even though it cannot manage to provide 100% of its services now.

According to SNCB and Infrabel, the railroads would need an additional 3.4 billion euros (over 10 years, or about 340 million euros per year) to meet the government’s objectives. The railways have also been hit by rising energy costs, amounting to about 100 million euros to date.

Belgian rail workers are increasingly expected to bear the burden. They have not received a pay rise for 14 years and are being hit hard by the rising cost of living. Inflation in Belgium was running at 11.27% in September, up from 9.94% in August.

National rail strike

Consequently, the Belgian unions went on a national strike on October 5. Three-quarters of Belgian trains did not run during the 24-hour strike organized by a common front of the rail unions, which demanded not only a wage increase for railway workers but also more safety and welfare on the railways. The strike began at 10:00 pm on Tuesday night and train travel was disrupted until late Wednesday. Originally scheduled for October 18, the strike was brought forward to put additional pressure on the authorities during the 2023-24 budget discussions, and to denounce the lack of structural means granted by the federal government to SNBC.

“Railway workers are exhausted because of a lack of staff,” said Anthony Signorino, regional secretary of the General Union of Public Services (ACOD/CGSP), an affiliate member of the FGTB federation.

General strike planned for November 9

Railway workers are also supporting nationwide demands to block energy prices and unblock wages. The General Labor Federation of Belgium (French: Fédération Générale du Travail de Belgique, or FGTB; Dutch: Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond, ABVV) is calling a general strike of its 1.5 million members for November 9.

The trade unions are feeling the pressure from below and are keen to ensure that this anger is channeled in a direction it can control, having been sidelined by recent legislation.

The law on the wage standard, which was reinforced by the government of Charles Michel in 2017 (Charles Michel is now President of the EU Council of Ministers, a typical career progression for Belgian Prime Ministers!) makes it impossible for unions to negotiate real wage increases with the bosses. The Belgian “wage standard” is set every two years and determines the margin for increasing wage costs. Its aim is to hold wages at or below the expected wage rises in Belgium’s larger neighbors (France, the Netherlands and Germany) but is used as a means of wage restraint. As the government website states, “If Belgian labor costs increase faster than those of our neighbors, the competitiveness of our economy decreases, which has a negative impact on employment.”

However, even this wage indexation is being attacked by employers’ confederations! The net effect with the rise in the cost of living is that some Belgian families have to choose between heating and feeding themselves.

Consolidated action by workers in Belgium is often impeded by divisions. Alongside the socialist ABVV/FGTB, there is also the Christian confederation, ACV/CSC and the liberal ACLVB/CGSLB confederation. Bourgeois politicians also exploit the division between the French, Dutch and German-speaking parts of the country. However, there are positive signs that in the crisis, class unity is being strengthened.