Railway unions temporarily suspend strikes to negotiate with government
Belgian railway unions will temporarily suspend their strike actions. They have agreed to enter into negotiations with the Federal minister of Pensions, Jan Jambon, they announced in a press release on Wednesday.
Belgium's railway unions - ACOD Spoor, ACV Transcom, VSOA Spoor, OVS and ASTB - have already laid down work 23 times since the beginning of the year. They are protesting against the federal government's plans to raise the retirement age, cut budgets and reform its employer, HR Rail.
But the unions announced on Wednesday that they will stop organising sectoral strikes, at least for the time being. They have agreed to start negotiations with Pensions minister Jan Jambon. The unions expect that process to take several months.
No complete stop
That does not mean that there will be no more strikes at the railways at all, according to Gunther Blauwens of ACOD Spoor. "We will still participate in the intersectoral actions, such as the one on 20 May by ACOD," Blauwens said. The exam period for schools would be exempt from strikes, he added.
The press release by the unions states that these "decisions require each party to honour its commitments". The constituency will be informed on a regular basis about progress in the negotiations, it says.
Passenger association TreinTramBus reacted positively to the news. "Travellers have had a hard enough time in recent months," said its president Peter Meukens. "We are happy that calm is finally returning. SNCB customers deserve to finally be able to count on their trains again."
#FlandersNewsService | © BELGA PHOTO HATIM KAGHAT
Related news
