WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - (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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