Solidarity, Union Rights, PPPs, Belgium
Unions step up campaign on rights to strike and protest
The three main trade union confederations – ACV/CSC, ABVV/FGTB and ACLVB/CGSLB – are taking further steps to defend trade union rights and particularly the rights to strike and protest. They will be joining other civil society and campaigning organisations on 5 October in a national demonstration against the Van Quickenborne law which will make it increasingly difficult to organise protests. The unions have already challenged attacks on trade union rights and particularly legal action taken against trade union strikers and protestors in the recent long-running Delhaize dispute in the retail
Workers take to the streets to defend the right to strike and to support Delhaize strikers
A massive demonstration with over 25,000 people was organised by the three Belgian trade union confederations (ACV-CSC, FGTB-ABVV and CGSLB-ACVLV) to protest attacks on the rights to strike, demonstrate and picket.
Confederations build for joint national protest in defence of union rights
The three trade union confederations – ACV/CSC, ABVV/FGTB and ACLVB/CGLSB are organising a national demonstration on 22 May in protest against increasing anti-union actions by employers and the authorities. The coordinated action is prompted by the conflict in the Delhaize supermarket chain where unions have been striking and campaigning against the company’s plans to franchise all its stores, posing a major threat to jobs and working conditions. Unions have been met with a hardline response from both the employer and aggressive tactics from the police. The confederations are concerned that
Confederations mobilise over pay, negotiations and trade union rights
The two main trade union confederations – FGTB/ABVV and CSC/ACV – are jointly organising a national demonstration on 6 December. They want to raise the problem of defending living standards as inflation increases, particularly driven by soaring energy prices. The confederations want to ensure that there is real space for proper negotiations and are challenging the provisions of the 1996 law that restricts the scope for pay increases. In the recent biennial negotiations the margin for increasing pay above inflation was limited to 0.4%. The confederations also want to defend trade union rights
Confederation launches appeal to defend the right to strike
The FGTB/ABVV trade union confederation will appeal against the conviction of 17 trade unionists for their involvement in a road block during the general strike of 18 October 2015. On 19 October 2021, the Court of Appeal of Liège confirmed the judgement pronounced in November 2020 by the criminal court, with the activists given suspended prison sentences of 15 days or one month and fines ranging from €1,200 to €2,100 euros. The judgment was based on the offence of "malicious obstruction of traffic" provided for in Article 406 of the Belgian Penal Code which had been used before to convict a
Prison unions protest over threat to right to strike
The CSC/ACV and CGSP/ACOD unions representing prison workers have taken strike action in protest at government plans to legislate on limiting their right to strike. EPSU sent a solidarity message to the unions highlighting the deteriorating conditions and overcrowding in prisons across the country and the importance of having the right to strike to highlight the need for urgent action to address these problems and reverse the impact of austerity. Rather than attack trade union rights, EPSU argues that the federal government should open negotiations to tackle the critical situation facing the