The entire Belgian aviation sector could strike against the pension reform starting on Monday, the unions announced.
The trade unions ACV, ABVV, and ACLVB have filed a joint strike notice for the Belgian aviation sector, which takes effect on Monday. The strike is targeting the pension reform of the Federal Government, which has increased the retirement age.
Belgian current law requires pilots to work until the age of 66, whereas European regulations prohibit them from operating scheduled flights after the age of 65 due to health risks.
According to the union, a recent Brussels Airlines' dismissal of a pilot without severance pay has prompted the unions to take action, according to Didier Lebbe, permanent secretary of the CNE (National Confederation of Christian Trade Unions).
Together with the Belgian Cockpit Association (BeCA), the professional organisation for Belgian pilots, they had raised the alarm about a "serious contradiction" between Belgian pension legislation and European aviation regulations.
They were concerned about a "legal loophole" regarding this specific situation. The office of the Minister of Pensions, Jan Jambon (N-VA), had suggested the possibility of an "isolated" case but maintained that they saw no reason to amend the pension law.
The dismissal of the pilot, who had reached the age of 65, is the result of conflicting Belgian and European legislation, the joint union front believes. "The result is purely Kafkaesque. It's unacceptable that the Minister of Pensions tells the sector to 'figure it out,' and that this sector then terminates contracts before the legal retirement age is even reached," he denounced.
Jambon's office had indeed responded that "this only concerns exceptional cases, and that these individuals simply need to become flight instructors, as is the case in other countries where the retirement age is also higher than the deadline for obtaining a pilot's license."
The minister also saw no reason to amend Belgian pension legislation. If an amendment proves necessary, it will be at the level of European aviation regulations. It could thus be considered that pilots could continue flying after their 65th birthday, "because pilots are generally healthier and more alert than the general public," his office stated.
The unions argue that expecting airlines to solve the problem by offering pilots alternative roles ignores the realities on the ground. "It's not up to the airlines to find a solution, but to Arizona (so-called government coalition), which has made decisions regarding retirement that don't take reality into account," said Didier Lebbe.
The three unions point out that pilots are in a "particularly unfair" situation because they have no choice. From a medical and legal standpoint, they are prohibited from flying after the age of 65 and must cease their primary occupation.
European regulations leave no room for interpretation on this matter, unions insist.
For example, an airline has just explicitly decided that it does not intend to offer alternative employment to pilots reaching the age of 65, unions point out. The company in question has thus just dismissed, without severance pay, a pilot who reached that age, according to Lebbe.
"It is not certain that the National Employment Office (ONEM) will allow him to receive unemployment benefits until his retirement. Furthermore, he will automatically be penalised by a reduction in his pension. And this reduction will be even more restrictive when the retirement age is raised to 67," he stressed.
"Given that this situation is fundamentally untenable, we are forced to file a sectoral strike notice for Belgian aviation. We are not taking this decision lightly, but rather to give the person responsible for this chaos—the Minister of Pensions—one last chance to propose structural and equitable solutions," the three unions wrote in their statement.
Unions said they wanted to avoid actions in the sector, "but discontent with this pension fiasco is particularly high," they warned. "Without swift and clear measures, this situation risks worsening," concluded the CNE, CSC Transcom, CGSLB, and Setca unions.
