Belgian unions launched a three-day general strike on Monday (24 November), bringing the country to a near standstill as workers protested against the government's austerity plan targeting pensions, unemployment benefits, and labor protections.
Brussels fell strangely silent, with hardly any buses or trams on the streets. People walked and cycled through the capital in scenes that felt more like a Sunday than a busy Monday.
It was the 13th major strike action since prime minister Bart de Wever's coalition government took office in February 2025.
The strikes, running from Monday to Wednesday, are planned to escalate each day. Public transport operated at minimal capacity on Monday. Postal workers, teachers, and healthcare staff are set to join on Tuesday, with a nationwide walkout across multiple sectors planned for Wednesday.
The unions are protesting the austerity policies of de Wever, a Flemish nationalist who leads a five-party coalition. Belgium is one of the EU's most heavily-indebted countries, and the government has proposed welfare cuts to reduce the deficit.
Pressured by the EU's competitiveness agenda and the European Commission's push for deficit reduction, the Belgian government has proposed major reforms to labour laws, pensions, and unemployment benefits. The changes would reduce workers' income, while the coalition has also floated stricter restrictions on protests and new rules forcing unions to disclose their strike funds.
The unions are calling on the government to review the billions spent on corporate subsidies, introduce a digital tax on tech giants, and scrap the proposed 'bonus-malus' pension system — a penalty-reward scheme that would cut pensions for workers with insufficient years and offer bonuses for those who work longer.
Under the planned reforms, Belgian workers who haven't accumulated enough working years would face pension cuts — a measure that particularly affects women who stayed home to care for children.
Union representatives question who would actually benefit from the bonus system.
"In reality, everyone is affected by the pension reforms," Jochen Mettlen, spokesperson for the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (CSC), told EUobserver.
The government argues that people are living longer and should therefore work longer. But unions point to Belgium's healthy life expectancy — 63.7 years (the age at which people can still enjoy life without serious health problems). That figure hasn't changed in 15 years.
Data also shows that university-educated workers enjoy 10 more years of good health than blue-collar workers, exposing deep inequalities in who would bear the burden of later retirement.
"People are deeply disappointed and had expected something different. We do hope that we can achieve something. We haven't lost hope, even though we know we have a government with which social dialogue is difficult," Mettlen said.
Despite three strike days and previous strikes throughout the year, the government has yet to respond to the unions' demands.
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Hannah Kriwak is a junior reporter from Austria at EUobserver, covering European politics.
Hannah Kriwak is a junior reporter from Austria at EUobserver, covering European politics.