General Strike in Belgium!

[Bilan]

Brussels - A nationwide strike of unions protesting the rising cost of living brought chaos to Belgium on Monday as trains, ports and public services shut down.

In Brussels, tram lines were closed, bus lines were running only limited services, main-line railway stations shut down and traffic jams were widespread.

International train services were hard hit by the closure of two of Brussels' three main stations, with both the Thalys service to Paris and the cross-Channel Eurostar train - already on a reduced service after a fire last month - closed for the day.

In the province of Flanders, local services reported over 280 kilometres of traffic jams on Monday morning, an increase of 40 per cent over a normal working day. Workers also blocked the port of Antwerp, the country's main trading port.

In Wallonia, striking workers picketed industrial areas round the towns of Charleroi, while many shops and services remained closed.

The unions are protesting at the rising cost of living. However, the current financial crisis and the collapse of Belgium's biggest bank, Fortis, have largely wiped the strike off Monday's front pages, leaving it open to question how much impact it will have.

The strike is set to last until 10 pm local time (2000 GMT).



source (http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1435021.php/General_strike_brings_chaos_to_Belgium)

chimx edit: added line breaks

[Forward Union]

Wonderful news!

[ROM]

Conditions here in the USA are very similar and many unions are also on strike against the companies cutting their health benifits and wages. We live under a Capitalistic
REGIEM and the capital is running out of our country and is going to China where they can exploite cheap labor and do not worry about raises or any health benefits.
The Mega-Buck capatalists also use this as a TAX shelter thus there exists no return of capital to the shrinking working class. I see no solution to the problem other than keeping are manufacturing and other JOBS at Home where they can benefit the working class rather than the profits of the Corporates. ROM

[bayano]

there was just a one day general strike of panama over the same thing, the rising cost of living. i havta reach my belgian contacts to hear some reports about this.

[An archist]

Reports in Dutch and French and pictures here:
http://indymedia.be/nl/tags/nationale-vakbondsactiedag-6-oktober

I'm guessing this isn't going to be the last union action, the government nor the employers organisations are planning to give in any time soon.

[Red October]

This is fantastic, these sorts of actions are just what we need right now. Good luck to them all!

[Colonello Buendia]

this is great, there was rumours that something similar was gonna happen in Italy but given the current power situation I doubt it would go well

[Tower of Bebel]

Sorry guys :(,

to be honest: this is bullshit. Those who went visiting strikers only saw despair in Flanders, while the Walloons only made sure some steam and pressure could escape from the boiling kettle of neoliberal exploitation.

In Flanders the trade unions' right wing was blocking most attempts to strike. Only where a left wing was strong enough to keep the right wing out a strike was organized. This happened in Antwerp for example. A whole industrial zone was blocked by a "handful" of militants, which made it possible for smaller factories to participate without fearing any sanctions from their bosses or the right wing of the trade unions. Demonstrations were sometimes dominated by defeatist slogans, and too many workers didn't have sufficient banners or other means to make their demands visible. In short, the trade unions killed this attempt to organize a general strike. In most parts of East and West-Flanders there were no strikes at private companies. Only public transport was cut short by workers going home (they rarely didn't picketed). Even before the end of the strike the leader of the General Christian Union said we should abandon the strike a means to strengthen our demands. He argues for a dialogue with the capitalists. In Flanders the general strike is defeated. Many shop stewards did not organize a strike or picket and many who did felt they were betrayed.

In the Walloon area and in Brussels trade unions and militancy is generally stronger. Many militants of trade unions organized pickets or went on strike. Public transport and most of the cities' personnel went on strike massively. But this is done to reduce pressure. This is not a victory. Even today parties and the right wings of the unions are using this example as a means to divide Flemish from Walloon workers.

I don't believe we will see a repetition of this "general strike". I think the trade unions betrayed the unions. They used the tactic of betrayal, "tred iunionizm" and chaos to defeat the working class that had enough of neoliberal reforms on behave of the capitalists. Even worse: the media are only concerned about the recent problems in the financial sector. The workers are left alone.

I may sound like a pessimist, but this is really what happened. I visited some rare and unorganized pickets and demo's in Ghent and Bruges. Negative feelings and experiences are dominant. Possible only in the chemical sector of Antwerp did the Flemish workers organize a real strike, and even then you must consider that the tactics they used were motivated by both solidarity and a desperate attempt to block the sector with a minority. In the French speaking regions workers were far more militant, though they lacked the means and ideas to effectively organized themselves against the betrayal of the unions and the antisocial politics of the capitalists.

Some photos made by my comrades can be found here (http://www.socialisme.be/lsp/).

[the_me_collective]

No big deal, this isn't going to change anything. I live in Belgium, I can assure you that there is happening nothing significant. We are more used to strikes than in the US.

[Bilan]

A nationwide strike against rising prices disrupted transport, retailing and manufacturing across Belgium on Monday.



High-speed international rail services in and out of the country to France, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands were cancelled and picketing disrupted the port of Antwerp.


Workers were protesting in advance of the government's 2009 budget to demand action on inflation and the rising cost of living.
In Brussels, all tram services were scrapped and only a fraction of underground rail and bus services were running.
Provincial train services were also hit and the two main rail stations in the capital, Brussels Midi and Brussels Central, were closed. Resulting traffic jams clogged motorways across the country.


Staff at Delhaize supermarkets and Carrefour's hypermarkets walked out in Brussels and in the country's southern region, Wallonia.
Workers at car manufacturer Audi also took industrial action, halting production.