On Friday, May 8, car inspection employees will stop work for an hour. Between 1:30 PM and 2:30 PM they will protest against the planned reforms of Flemish Minister of Mobility Annick De Ridder (N-VA). It is still unclear how many inspection stations will actually participate and in which provinces there will be disruption. “We are counting on a lot of follow-up,” says Elke Gelens, sector manager at ACV Puls.
Lore Vanhaelewyn
Journalist at HLN
Minister De Ridder’s reforms should make car inspection more flexible. For example, Flemish people will have to have their cars inspected less often. But according to the unions, this threatens to have serious consequences. “Up to 500 jobs are at risk,” says Gelens. “Employment in the sector is coming under pressure.”
According to ACV Puls, road safety would also be compromised. “If vehicles are inspected less often, technical defects will go unnoticed for longer,” it said. In addition, the union fears that the abolition of the mandatory second-hand inspection will open the door to fraud and deception in the sale of second-hand cars.
‘Stop the demolition’
But the Road Safety Fund is also affected by the reforms. This is a Flemish fund that invests in projects and equipment to make our roads safer. According to calculations, this fund will have 14 million euros less income from 2026 and will lose even 85 million euros by 2030. Minister De Ridder wants to compensate for that loss with traffic fines.
According to ACV Puls, the cost of the reform ultimately threatens to be borne by society. “It is not only employees who will suffer. We fear that the dismissal costs will be passed on to society, while at the same time fewer resources will flow to road safety,” it said.
The union has therefore been conducting a national campaign since Monday called ‘Stop the demolition’, with which they denounce the government’s reform plans.
The union emphasizes that it is not against modernization, but it is against the way the reforms are currently being implemented. “We are convinced that the sector can modernize,” says Gelens. “But this must be done with investments in personnel, planning and infrastructure, not with a breakdown of the system.”
