Five days of train strikes planned for January

Unions representing staff of the rail authority SNCB and rail infrastructure company Infrabel have announced plans for five days of industrial action in January. The plans include one 48-hour strike from 22.00 on 5 January to 22 on 7 January, and one 72-hour strike from 20 January to 23 January.

Unions and management met yesterday to discuss a labour agreement, but unions could not accept the proposals. The main obstacle was new productivity targets the SNCB plans to introduce on 1 January, which would mean working one hour more a month, with no increase in pay. The agreement of the unions is not required for that measure, but the unions are not prepared to accept it as-is.

“There was no discussion over this matter,” a union spokesperson said after the meeting. “The employer has laid out its vision and refuses to listen. They mean to push this measure through regardless.” Both management and unions stressed they were willing to keep talks going to avert the strikes.

Rail users’ group TreinTramBus described the strike intention as “completely out of proportion”. Five days of strikes in one month is the worst that rail users have had to face in decades, spokesperson Jan Vanseveren said. “The strikes, as always, affect passengers who are in no way responsible for the problems the unions wish to bring to light,” he said, noting that the five days all fall within the period of university exams.

SNCB, meanwhile, has refused to discuss union financing in the face of strike threats. In the absence of a new agreement, the system by which SNCB contributes about €10 million a year to the funding of the unions will run out in January.