One-day national strike paralyzes Belgium
Large parts of Belgium were brought to a standstill yesterday, as tens of thousands of workers joined a national 24-hour strike to demand wage increases, and oppose government attacks on pensions and other social entitlements, and growing social inequality.
The strike was characterized by a stark contradiction. On the one hand, it demonstrated the immense social power of the working class, amid seething anger after a decade of deepening social austerity imposed by the right-wing government of Prime Minister Charles Michel and his Socialist Party-led predecessor, Elio di Rupo (2011-2014).
On the other hand, the strike has been called by the three main trade union federations, not to mobilize workers’ strength in struggle against the government, but to let off steam and keep control over growing working-class opposition. The unions intend on the morrow to continue negotiating austerity with the government and the employers.
This fact was alluded to by the pro-business daily Le Soir. It noted yesterday that the trade unions were “all the more determined” to proceed with the strike because “they were taken off guard by the Yellow Vest movement, which has implicated them just as much as the political establishment.”
Read more: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/02/14/belg-f14.html
