Public transport employees in Brussels will receive self-defence training and work in larger teams in order to counter aggressions on the network, with an additional measure which would equip them with pepper spray under study.
Employee representatives of Brussels' public transport operator STIB entered in talks with management after three separate incidents of aggression against transport agents took place in two weeks.
After the events, one STIB employee spoke out anonymously and declared that the "vast majority of staff" worked in fear.
Reports from the initial conclusions from the negotiations say that management agreed to make employees work in teams of three and to give them self-defence training more often, according to Bruzz.
An additional initiative to equip transport agents with pepper spray will be studied in September, as its approval would require a solid legal basis, the outlet reports.
The measure to equip the employees with pepper spray has been on the table since 2018, after three STIB employees were violently beaten up in the municipality of Anderlecht when attempting to carry out checks.
Additionally, the transport operator is studying the legal feasibility of a measure which would see employee names removed from fines given out by agents, after several complained that they were being harassed online.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times
