A rail strike will take place from Sunday, 8 March at 22:00 to Wednesday, 11 March at 22:00, socialist union ACOD Spoor announced on Wednesday.
The notice affects all employees of Belgian Railways and its subsidiaries. It applies to the entire network and all locations of SNCB-NMBS, Infrabel, and HR Rail.
At the end of last month, there was a five-day strike at the railway. Since January of last year, SNCB has witnessed 31 strike days. Staff and unions are protesting against the pension reform and the abolition of permanent appointments for new hires.
Sophie Dutordoir, head of SNCB, indicated at the end of last month that she was becoming increasingly annoyed by the numerous strikes at the railway.
“I don’t underestimate the changes for my employees, but what’s happening today is really no longer reasonable,” the railway boss said regarding the many strike days. "These are not only detrimental to passengers, but also to the government and the railway company due to reputational and financial damage."
'Extremely inconvenient for train passengers'
Minister of Mobility Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engagés) had reached preliminary agreements with the unions twice last year, but their supporters did not follow suit. For Crucke, the time for talks is over: he has suspended negotiations with the unions and has had his bill approved by the Council of Ministers.
In a statement, passenger association TreinTramBus said: “We have no choice but to accept this, but this is extremely inconvenient for train passengers,” said Stefan Stynen of TreinTramBus in a statement on Wednesday.
According to Stynen, the rail union’s strike isn’t hitting the party it wants to hit, namely the government. “The question can therefore be asked whether such a strike is strategically wise. This isn’t an advertisement for public transport. De Lijn has also issued a strike notice, so it’s all getting a bit much.”
A national demonstration is planned in Brussels on 12 March, the day after the new rail strike.
