Unrest over federal pension plans leads to railway strike
Federal government negotiators met again on Monday for discussions on the labour market and taxation. The topic of pensions is on the agenda later. The pension plans are causing unrest, particularly among railway unions, who announced a 24-hours strike from 22.00 on 12 January.
The leaders of N-VA, MR, Les Engagés, Vooruit and CD&V have been negotiating at a faster pace since last week with the aim of settling on a coalition agreement by the end of January. A first important deadline is Tuesday, when formateur and N-VA leader Bart De Wever is expected to visit the palace to provide the King with a further update.
According to insiders, the talks went constructively over the past few days, but a partial agreement by Tuesday would be “practically impossible”. The negotiators are expected to conclude the labour market section on Monday, after which taxation comes on the table. Later, the topic of pensions also needs to be tackled.
Adjusted rail service
With their strike, the railway unions want to allow their members to take part in a major action day about pensions. A demonstration is planned on 13 January, at the Pensions Tower in Brussels.
The unions are targeting the negotiators’ plans to adjust pension conditions. These include, according to the unions, a higher retirement age for driving personnel, abolition of the existing “tantièmes” - the career break used to calculate civil service pensions - for railway workers, and calculation of pensions based on the entire career instead of the last four years. This will lead to lower pensions, longer careers, delayed retirement and worse end-of-career, they say.
During a railway strike, there is a minimum service. The adjusted train schedule will be announced 24 hours in advance.
Illustration © BELGA PHOTO JONAS ROOSENS
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