A heated autumn is unfolding in Belgium following the coalition agreement reached in February this year. This agreement outlined severe budget cuts, particularly within social security, that would negatively affect employees, jobseekers, and pensioners. In contrast, businesses were granted additional resources and a series of measures allowing them to employ people more cheaply and for longer periods, including through student labour, night shifts, and overtime.
Several demonstrations and strikes have already taken place in the months since, yet the government’s adjustments remain minimal. In June, parliament approved legislation to limit unemployment benefits in time—a dramatic shift for Belgium, which had been distinctive in Europe for having no defined limit on benefit duration. The country had instead maintained a system of checks and balances, ensuring that workers actively sought employment. Now almost 180 000 long-term unemployed people will be cut off and cast out to receive, at best, social assistance from local authorities.
Many of those affected have disabilities and are not expected to find any employment, particularly as no measures have been developed to enforce more diverse hiring policies on employers or to challenge discriminatory practices. Instead, the government continues to blame jobseekers for their predicament, shifting responsibility away from structural labour market failures and employer discrimination.
Escalating confrontation
During the summer, the government provisionally approved a series of additional policy measures. These include significant changes to the labour market and pensions, which were submitted for consultation with the social partners throughout September. Despite unions unanimously expressing their dissent and pointing out that these reforms are detrimental to workers’ rights, the government persists with its plans.
Ongoing government negotiations are simultaneously taking place to amend the multi-year budget, once again seeking billions in savings. These cuts are partially intended to compensate for the billions in defence funding needed to reach NATO standards. As the budget is based on fictional returns from the planned measures—optimistic projections about economic growth and employment effects that many economists consider unrealistic—further budget holes are expected to appear in the coming months.
The prime minister refuses to balance the government’s approach, and his initial proposals once more target workers. These include a wage freeze through an index jump (skipping the automatic wage adjustment for inflation), increased value-added tax, reduced funding for healthcare, and stricter policies for those on sick leave. Each measure represents a direct attack on the living standards of ordinary Belgians while leaving corporate privileges untouched.
On 14 October, the trade unions organised another demonstration that brought Belgian society to a standstill. This historic protest saw 140,000 participants marching through Brussels—one of the largest labour mobilisations in recent Belgian history. Together with more than 40 Civil society organizations they launched such as the Anti-Poverty Network and Greenpeace to launch an appeal for solidarity, against division.
Yet so far, the government has offered no substantive response to the workers’ demands, maintaining its stance that austerity measures are necessary for fiscal stability.
November showdown
The Belgian unions remain committed to demanding changes in the proposed measures, recognising that peaceful protest alone has failed to move the government. Therefore, a “November Call” has been launched, announcing three days of escalating strikes designed to bring maximum pressure on both government and employers.
The action begins on 24 November with railway workers walking out, paralysing the country’s transport infrastructure. On 25 November, the public sector joins the strike, shutting down government services, schools, and hospitals (except for emergency care). Finally, on 26 November, the private sector enters the fray, potentially bringing the entire Belgian economy to a halt.
This escalating strike strategy is necessary. The alternative—allowing the austerity measures to proceed unchallenged—would mean accepting a fundamental restructuring of Belgium’s social model, transforming it from one of Europe’s more protective welfare states into something far more precarious for working people.
As November approaches, Belgium stands at a crossroads. The government’s determination to push through its austerity agenda faces the organised resistance of a labour movement that refuses to accept the dismantling of decades of social progress. The outcome of this confrontation will determine not just the immediate economic policies but the fundamental social contract between Belgian workers, employers, and the state for years to come.
Marie Hélène Ska is general secretary of the Belgian trade union confederation ACV-CSC.
