Thousands of demonstrators said a first big “no” to De Wever-Bouchez’s Arizona plan. “No” to the government of the thugs. And they are right.
For five months, Arizona’s five parties – N-VA, MR, Les Engagés, CD&V and Vooruit – have been negotiating a government agreement. The notes have come one after the other on the table… but the content always remains the same: the working class goes to the cash register, while the rich and the multinationals receive gifts. While military budgets increase and our fundamental rights decline.
Thanks to pressure from unions, civil society and the political opposition, the negotiating parties have not dared to finalize an agreement. And given what’s on the table right now, it’s a first victory.
“A lot of people are worried about De Wever’s plans,” explains Ann Vermorgen, president of the CSC. They are angry and they are right. That’s why we’ll be in action on the 1st of every month, for as long as it takes. »
“We must continue to mobilize,” continues Thierry Bodson, president of the FGTB. And perhaps move towards much stronger actions, towards a national demonstration. And if everything on the negotiating table turns into a government agreement, if the workers ask us, we will even go on strike. There are no other solutions compared to what is on the table. »
What does Arizona’s plan include?
In summary: reduce night bonuses and overtime, freeze salaries, weaken salary indexation and increase VAT. Pensions are also in the sights: elimination of early retirement (called RCC), extension of working hours via a new pension formula and elimination of numerous assimilated periods. In addition, a new sanction mechanism (penalty penalty) is planned to dissuade those who would like to leave a few years earlier.
Public services are not spared, nor are sick or unemployed people. Everyone must make sacrifices, except the ultra-rich.
Thierry Bodson (FGTB): “The small increase in purchasing power that the negotiators promise will be entirely recovered by the increase in VAT and the manipulation of the automatic indexation of salaries and allowances. »
Ann Vermorgen (CSC): “It can’t be otherwise,” explains De Wever. Not only can it be otherwise, but it must be. Why don’t the negotiators come up with a crisis tax on big fortunes? Why don’t they come with a real, comprehensive capital gains tax on stocks? Why don’t they tackle tax evasion and evasion which costs the equivalent of the health care budget every year? »
To extract 20 billion euros from the pockets of the working class, De Wever-Bouchez want to crush all social resistance. The notes are therefore full of attacks on our democratic rights: weakening the protection of trade unionists, imposing a legal personality on unions to make them financially vulnerable in court, trying again to introduce an anti-demonstration law, etc.
Ann Vermorgen (CSC): “A large delegation of organizations working with people and organizations from the South is also present today. They support us, but we also support their struggle, because De Wever wants to halve the funds for development cooperation. »
Alain (FGTB activist): “We fight against injustice, in the workplace and beyond. Trade unionists represent the counter-power to the bosses’ thirst for profit. This is why De Wever and Bouchez attack us directly. They want to take away the little legal protection we still have today. Through various measures, they seek to weaken the unions. Is this country becoming a dictatorship? Not with us, that’s for sure. »
Government of thugs vs. social resistance
A government that attacks our social rights, steals our pensions, destroys our purchasing power and undermines our democratic rights: there is only one word to describe it: government of thugs.
The unions, civil society and the PTB quickly understood De Wever-Bouchez’s intentions. In recent months, they have informed their base with leaflets, carte blanche and interviews. Little by little, it became clear to everyone what Arizona represents: a desert where nothing grows.
The growing awareness and rising anger of the working class have borne fruit. Arizona parties are getting nervous. They are beginning to seriously fear a wave of resistance that could shake up the country like in 2014.
As the president of the PTB, Raoul Hedebouw, recalls: “If the future government has difficulty concluding its bad plans, it is because they are under pressure. » This first victory makes you want to get more, namely a fair government agreement that will get the money where it is: from the super-rich.
