Belgium: One in four trains to run on Wednesday due to strike – What workers want

Serious problems in the traffic of trains are expected tonight and until Thursday morning, after the strike declared by a coordinator of railway unions demanding better working conditions from the government.

Only one in four trains will run tomorrow, Wednesday, and although the strike ends at 22:00, traffic “will be disrupted until the end of the day”, the Belgian national railway company (SNCB) predicted on its website.

According to the media, train traffic will be completely stopped, in the absence of workers, in the provinces of Namir (center) and Luxembourg (south).

The strike, which is expected to start tonight at 22:00 local time (23:00 Greece time) and last 24 hours, is taking place while negotiations are underway within the federal government on the next state budget. Discussions also involve a fund for investment in railways.

Railway workers in Belgium often complain about a deterioration of their working conditions. And “to date the government has not offered any guarantee in the budget” on how it intends to improve them, their “common trade union front” said in a statement.

“The only response that has reached us is limited to a statement of intent regarding the implementation from January 1 of (management) contracts of SNCB and Infrabel”, the company that operates the railway infrastructure, add the unions CGSP, SLFP and CSC-Transcom.

For its part, the government led by the liberal Flemish Alexander De Croix promised answers by mid-October.

“The government certainly intends to set out the long-term course of these contracts in the budget consultations which conclude on October 15,” the prime minister said in a letter to unions.

RES-EMP

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