Spontaneous strikes have broken out in several places at De Lijn on Thursday following the announcement by the transport company that a number of depots and maintenance centres will be closed. The timetable has been disrupted.
Staff are angry about the way the message was delivered, says ACOD union official in Flemish Brabant Stefaan Laroy. He demands more information on when the closures will happen and where staff will be able to go. "Don’t leave people in the dark," he echoes.
According to De Lijn’s website, the protest is causing inconvenience for travellers in Flemish Brabant and West Flanders, but the union official expects workers elsewhere in Flanders to lay down work as well. The action could also continue tomorrow/Friday if De Lijn does not come up with more information, he warned.
Spokesperson Marco Demerling does not yet have detailed information on the disruption. "Traffic may be seriously disrupted in certain regions. If we get information about rides that we know will be cancelled, we will remove those rides from our route planner," he explains.
De Lijn plans to thoroughly renovate four depots and build 13 new depots/maintenance centres. Eight depots and five maintenance centres – accounting for 280 full-time jobs – will be closed and integrated into other locations. The affected drivers and technicians will move to neighbouring locations, De Lijn announced.
Demerling said management will still share further information with employees. "We will explain everything that has been announced as best we can and hold individual talks to guide staff. A change process is not easy for anyone. We need all the people."
