Belgian unions are taking to Brussels’ streets on 14 October, demanding balanced careers, fair pensions, job security and respect for workers. The federal government’s announced reforms — from slashing unemployment protection to penalising interrupted careers — threaten to devastate the lives of Belgium’s most vulnerable citizens. These measures, which include new labour market rules affecting night-shift workers, disproportionately harm women, the sick and low-wage earners, representing a fundamental assault on social solidarity. Here is what these policies mean for workers’ lives.
From 1 January 2026, Belgium’s unemployment benefits could be capped at two years for most jobseekers. This decision would strip more than 184,000 people of their benefits — and therefore their income — with more than 25,000 losing support immediately on New Year’s Day. This is not merely a crisis for the long-term unemployed; it threatens every worker in Belgium. Reduced protection means increased pressure to accept deteriorating working conditions and heightened workplace demands, as workers fear dismissal more than ever.
“Unlike in 2015, when changes were linked to integration allowances, the majority of people facing exclusion from unemployment benefits could be heads of households, single people, and single mothers,” warn unionists from the ACV-CSC jobless workers’ action group. “They will have to choose between feeding their children or feeding themselves. Is this the kind of society we want? This government is holding Belgian society hostage.” The social regression extends far beyond statistics. It fundamentally weakens the bargaining power of all workers, creating a race to the bottom in working conditions and wages.
The federal government’s proposed pension penalty particularly targets those who have interrupted their careers due to illness or family responsibilities. For Muriel Vandenberghe, a cashier at Carrefour market Scheepsdale in Bruges and trade union representative, this reform brings devastating news: “In 2002, I had a serious accident at work. Since then, I have undergone nine operations,” she explains. “All in all, I have been inactive for four and a half years due to these medical issues. Will I have to work longer because of this?”
The government insists that stricter rules for early retirement simply reflect longer life expectancies. But this ignores the reality of physical labour. “If your body is broken, you can’t keep it up,” Vandenberghe says. “I did the maths: if I were to take early retirement, I would lose more than 300 euros a month under the new rules. That’s a huge chunk of my income.”
Under the guise of modernisation, the government is introducing measures that further erode working conditions. Workers forced to accept on-call contracts with no minimum hours guaranteed gain nothing from these changes. Neither do those compelled to work overtime. Night workers in e-commerce face particularly harsh conditions, sometimes earning hundreds of euros less for work that devastates their health and family life.
These reforms create a two-tier labour market where precarity becomes the norm for an expanding segment of the workforce. The promised flexibility benefits only employers, while workers shoulder all the risks.
Last week, during budget discussions, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever of the N-VA (European Conservatives and Reformists group) proposed tampering with Belgium’s automatic wage indexation system. This mechanism, which adjusts wages to inflation, represents one of the last bulwarks protecting workers’ purchasing power. ACV-CSC calculations reveal the devastating impact. A 30-year-old worker earning a median gross income of 3,500 euros monthly will suffer a net loss of 20,458 euros by retirement, assuming annual inflation of two per cent. For those earning 2,000 euros gross monthly, the cumulative loss reaches 12,897 euros. These losses compound when calculating pension entitlements.
The proposed index jump represents another gift to business at workers’ expense. According to National Central Bank data, the wage share of national income has been declining since 2013. While households and individuals struggle to make ends meet, employers remain untouched by austerity measures.
“This government promised more sustainable jobs and increased purchasing power. It’s all hot air!” union leaders declare. “Once again, everyone pays except the rich. The Prime Minister is turning his back on ordinary citizens, telling them: ‘We’re cleaning up, you sort it out yourselves.’ Workers are fed up with this collusion between government and business.”
The 14 October march represents more than protest — it embodies Belgian workers’ demand for a society where the broadest shoulders bear the heaviest burdens, where social protection remains a right rather than a privilege, and where economic policy serves all citizens, not just the wealthy few.
Marie Hélène Ska is general secretary of the Belgian trade union confederation ACV-CSC.
