Belgium grinds to halt as strike takes hold

Construction sites, car plants, public transportation and the port of Antwerp lay still today as workers took part in a one-day national strike by Belgium’s largest socialist union to protest planned changes to social security.

Trains rumbled to a halt late yesterday ahead of today’s action and the Channel high-speed Eurostar train suspended its services to Brussels due to the strike, stranding some travellers at stations in Brussels.

The city’s central station was boarded up.

The strike affected most public transport – buses, trams and metro – services, prisons, factories and some schools, but not health services.

Picket lines were set up outside several workplaces including a major postal sorting station in Berchem, a suburb of the port city of Antwerp, and European Union headquarters in Brussels.

The overnight shift at the Opel car plant in Antwerp was cancelled and federal police took over security and guard duty at jails where guards were joining the strike.

At Brussels international airport, officials reported no cancellations early today, but flights were expected to be delayed, with baggage handlers joining the picket line. All flights today at Charleroi airport were cancelled, reports said.

National carrier SN Brussels urged passengers to try and switch their flights to another day.

Meanwhile long traffic jams were reported across the country, despite calls by officials that government workers try to work from home if they can.

Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt was to continue talks today with unions and the employers’ federation to push them to accept changes to the retirement system that would make it tougher for workers to retire early with full benefits. Verhofstadt is asking unions and businesses to accept raising the retirement age from 58 to 60 as a way to cut pension costs.

The government said it needs to keep people in their jobs longer to meet the challenges of an ageing society with rising pension costs and potentially lower income.

Verhofstadt is trying to get a deal this weekend. If a deal remains elusive, other unions said they could join in a larger national strike later in the month.