Belgian railway employees who largely stop working. Their French colleagues who do the same. German railways that are struggling with strikes and Dutch regional transport that has been out of action for days in various regions.
A wave of strikes among public transport workers has brought down the transport network in Northwest Europe to a large extent these days. A provisional peak will be reached in the second half of this week, when railway workers in Belgium go on strike on Friday. This comes on top of major disruptions in France and ongoing strikes in Dutch regional transport.
On Friday, March 3, large parts of German regional transport also went on strike, although the trains largely continued to run. Railway strikes are planned for the United Kingdom later this month, and speculation about rail strikes is also rife in Germany, as trade unions and employers seem to be stuck these days.
It is rare that public transport is affected by strikes in so many European countries at the same time. In France and Belgium, pension plans of the governments are largely responsible for the work stoppages. For example, President Macron of France wants to raise that age from 62 to 64, to the anger of a large part of the population. This has also led to strikes in other sectors, such as the garbage collection service.
A new pension plan is also on the table in Belgium, under which the pensions of civil servants would rise less quickly from now on. At the same time, the staff also says they will strike because they want more structural investment in public transport. Local bus and tram operators De Lijn (in Flanders), TEC (in Wallonia) and MIVB (Brussels) strike Friday as well. It is expected that about a third of the trains will run.
Appeal by State Secretary Heijnen
In the Netherlands, the strike is mainly about a conflict about wage increases and about reducing the workload. There have been strikes for weeks, especially in regional transport, with regions sometimes alternating. On Wednesday, State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen (Infrastructure & Environment, CDA) called on the unions and employers to enter into discussions. She also expressed her concern about the strike on March 15: that day there will be elections for the Provincial Council and the water boards. Heijnen wants it to be possible for everyone to reach the polling station that day.
At the moment it does not seem that there will be a breakthrough in the Netherlands any time soon. Trade unions and employers are currently pointing fingers at each other for who should take the initiative for a new proposal.