A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #361 - International - Belgium: New Government, New Response (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

For just over a year, since the most recent elections, Belgium has been 
experiencing a wave of social unrest. The new ruling coalition, as 
elsewhere in Europe, is imposing austerity measures that are attacking 
the living conditions of workers. But the response from the unions and 
our social camp was swift and remains strong. On June 9, 2024, Belgians 
voted not only for the European elections, but also for the legislative 
elections. The results of these elections are a victory for the right. 
Various right-wing parties[1]were then able to form community, regional, 
and national governments in Belgium, except in Brussels, which remains 
without a government.

Due to the different party colors of the national coalition governing 
parliament (blue, red, orange, and yellow), it was named the "Arizona" 
coalition, in reference to the colors of the flag of the eponymous 
American state (although questions remain about the attribution of red 
to represent the Flemish socialists). This reshuffle of the political 
class resulted in a new government agreement unfavorable to workers, and 
thus a response from trade unions.

Austerity in the Service of War
All the reforms proposed by the De Wever government are a direct attack 
on the living conditions of workers. For example, the government plans 
to limit unemployment benefits to two years, maintain the freeze on wage 
indexation, and postpone the start of the night shift bonus from 8 p.m. 
to midnight.

While austerity is usually explained by capitalists' quest for profit or 
by market mechanisms, here it is primarily explained by the 
remilitarization of Europe. Belgium is planning the largest investment 
in the army since the Cold War, increasing from 1.3% of GDP to 2%. This 
march towards war will therefore come at the cost of our social security.

The Workers' Response
In opposition to these plans for social destruction, the union common 
front announced a schedule of struggle between late 2024 and early 2025: 
a national strike day every 13th of each month, starting in December. 
This ended in March. One of the reasons was to avoid overshadowing March 
8th[2]and therefore postpone the action until the end of the month. 
Thus, the union common front organized strike days on March 31st and 
April 29th, which maintains the rhythm of one strike day per month.

However, the General Confederation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium 
abandoned the common union front on March 31, preferring to give social 
dialogue a chance. One of the unique aspects of the mobilization was the 
form these actions took: the strikes from December to February aimed to 
gather as many people as possible for the national demonstration in 
Brussels, while the March strike was intended to allow workers to hold 
pickets in front of their companies. The April strike, meanwhile, 
focused on regional demonstrations in various cities across Belgium.

One of the most vocal and energetic strikes in Belgium, in terms of its 
impact and continuity, was the one led by train drivers. It did not 
follow the common front agenda, as the unions organizing it were 
independent of the interprofessional unions. In addition to fighting the 
government's general austerity measures, the specific issue for railway 
workers lies in the measures attacking their preferential status: 
rolling stock personnel have the advantage, compared to other employees, 
of being able to retire earlier and receive better pay than the rest of 
the civil service.

There is nothing wrong with workers retiring earlier and under more 
suitable conditions. However, the tactical risk is that they will 
distance themselves from their civil servant colleagues during 
negotiations and win their specific demands in exchange for ceasing the 
struggle alongside the rest of the strikers.

A sense of déjà vu
In 2011, a government including socialists had already used its 
privileged ties with the socialist union FGTB[3]to negotiate "calmly" a 
reform raising the retirement age. That is, finding a compromise around 
the negotiations without the unions imposing a power struggle that would 
lead to strikes.

Today, although the French-speaking Belgian Socialist Party is not in 
the Arizona coalition, its Flemish "sister party," Vooruit, does. The 
new FGTB General Secretary, Bert Engelaar, has a position as the union's 
representative at the Vooruit office, and this doesn't seem to be a 
problem for him. Trade union independence, although enshrined in the 
statutes, is practiced here quite differently from that in France, and 
this poses a risk that the governing parties could corrupt the unions 
from within through their influence and proximity.

The Commune Anger bloc during the April 25 demonstration in Brussels, 
which brought together 8,000 people.
UCL Brussels
Revolutionaries in search of influence
Initiatives bridging the gap between the left wing of trade unions and 
the voluntary sector, such as the Commune Anger (CC) assemblies, have 
emerged in Brussels and Wallonia. While for some, these assemblies 
represent a hope of bypassing union bureaucracies and increasing the 
balance of power in favor of our class, it cannot be said that CC 
currently constitutes an organizational force capable of replacing the 
coordination of union apparatuses.

Furthermore, CC does not follow a specific path: different subgroups of 
the Belgian far left pursue different objectives within it. These range 
from supporting slogans related to the fall of the government to pushing 
for the replacement of union demonstrations by calling for dates 
canceled by the unions (such as March 13), to establishing groups of 
militant union delegates. On the libertarian side, we believe that we 
are seriously lacking information on how such a complex struggle is 
unfolding.

To propose a strategy capable of influencing activist practices, we must 
first better understand the current situation. This will be achieved by 
building our networks and establishing ourselves in the struggle. 
Because it is only by organizing revolutionary forces that we can 
finally counter this government.

Y. Ket (UCL Brussels)

1. 2. 3. Exergue: War at the cost of social security

Image: AL 361 - International - Belgium - April 25CC.jpg Source:

Validate

[1]Flemish nationalists, liberals, Christians, and "socialists."

[2]International Women's Day.

[3]General Federation of Belgian Workers: the second largest Belgian 
trade union federation by membership.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Belgique-Nouveau-gouvernement-nouvelle-riposte
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