Transport in Belgium severely disrupted due to national pensions strike

The country’s unions are denouncing plans to cut pensions by the ruling coalition government.

Dozens of flights canceled in Brussels, two out of three trains canceled on the national network… Transport was operating slowly on Monday January 13 in Belgium due to a day of national strike. Belgium’s three major unions — FGTB (socialist), CSC (Christian) and CGSLB (liberal) — called for a day of action to denounce the government coalition’s projects still under negotiation at the federal level, which is according to them determined to “to attack” to retirements. A demonstration is planned for the morning in Brussels.

At Brussels-Zaventem airport, the country’s first, 40% of flights scheduled for the day’s departure and arrival are canceled, a spokesperson for the operating company, Brussels Airport, told AFP. In Charleroi, the country’s second airport and Ryanair’s first hub on the European continent, “Significant delays are expected and cancellations are not excluded”according to the operator.

On the Belgian railway network (SNCB), only one in three trains linking large cities was in circulation, while urban or interurban transport in the regions of Brussels and Wallonia was also very disrupted. The teaching world is also mobilized, particularly in Flanders (Dutch-speaking north) because the federated entities which have jurisdiction over education also plan to reduce the amount of pensions, according to the unions.