Several hundred Walloon public service agents in the streets of Namur to denounce budget cuts

“The end of the status in Wallonia represents a billion € in additional costs in 20 years: French speakers still don’t know how to count…”

Three subjects are at the center of concerns: the status of civil servants, the Walloon budget and APE (public employment aid). “The Walloon government is considering the pure and simple abolition of the status. The first measures have already been implemented, namely the freezing of appointments, the non-replacement of departures, the removal of a mechanism for appointing contract workers and the use of statutory reserves for hire contract workers,” explained the unions. According to them, the abolition of the statute, put in place in 1937 to guarantee the independence of the Administration with regard to politics, is a direct attack on democracy. It will also entail costs borne by Walloon budgets and local authorities.

Strike in the Walloon public sector this Wednesday: the TEC network disrupted

The unions also regret several budget cuts announced for 2025. They will concern the UAP (FOREM, IFAPME), the? OTW (the TEC), the municipal fund, the APE, the SPW and the waste intercommunal companies. “They will well exceed 100 million euros. This will inevitably have an impact on the quality of services to citizens,” they further clarified.

They estimate that 1,500 public jobs are set to disappear in the short and medium term and that this does not only concern administrative civil servants. “Caregivers, childcare staff, bus drivers and workers will also be impacted. A shame for a coalition which campaigned on “all employment”. Would the Walloon government become l ‘main actor in unemployment in Wallonia?’, they concluded.