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| Especially bus and tram services affected by the strike |
| Brussels, 02.12.2011 |
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| Today is a national day of strike against the government's austerity measures. Where public transport is concerned, it's especially tram and bus services that are disrupted. In Brussels, the situation is better than expected. Meanwhile, apart from the public transport, a number of public services are also touched by the strike.
Belgium's three main trades unions, the Christian ACV, the socialist ABVV and the liberal ACLVB, are all taking part in the strike and called on their members to join the protest march in Brussels. This big demonstration started around 10:30 this morning at the Brussels North Station. Across the country, employees or public workers are taking part in the strike and are not working.
Where public transport is concerned, it's especially tram and bus services operated by the Flemish public transport company De Lijn that are being hit by the action. In Flanders, bus services are heavily disrupted. Depending on the area, only 30 to 70 percent of the buses that were scheduled are actually out and running. Tram services operated by De Lijn are also hit.
In Brussels, bus, tram and metro services supplied by the Brussels public transport company MIVB are also disrupted, although the situation is better than passengers feared.
Rail services were almost not affected this morning. The Rail Company NMBS announced that most trains were running. Unions pointed out that trains were running anyway to bring protesters to the march in Brussels.
Education, post services and refuse collection
It is possible that you won't receive any mail in your letter box today. Some postmen will take part in the national strike, while other won't. It can't be predicted which areas will be affected most.
Some employees working in schools, hospitals, old people's homes and other public instances are on strike. In the city of Ghent, less than 50 percent of the public child care facilities are open. The schools are not closing. Teachers taking part in the strike, are being replaced.
Also in Ghent, garbage collection was heavily disrupted as 2 out of 3 Ivago employees is taking part in the strike.
Cities and municipalities warn that the national day of action could have an impact on their services. Municipal offices could be closed.
"Low impact on the Belgian economy"
In the private sector, it was a rather normal day in most companies. The employers' organisation Voka asked 200 companies to supply figures about the number of absent employers. It turned out that everyone had come to work as usual in more than 1 in 2 companies. Voka concludes that the impact on the Belgian economy is relatively low, and that Flemings realise that cuts are needed.
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