Belgium 30/01/2012 Strike

[Mirror]

Hi, I was wondering whether the strike will affect Brussels airport. The previous strike in December didn't have a big impact on aviation but will it be the same for the end of January

[Passenger]

Between 7 and 15 May 2012, there are social elections in Belgium. As soon as one union thinks that going on strike means "defending the rights of the employees", all others unions will follow. And as usual, they will then take innocent passengers as hostage.

The strike of 30 January 2012 apparently is against the government. As far as I know, there are no airlines or airports or touroperators or caterers or fuel suppliers involved with the government Di Rupo I.

[airazurxtror]

The strike of 30 January 2012 apparently is against the government. As far as I know, there are no airlines or airports or touroperators or caterers or fuel suppliers involved with the government Di Rupo I.

As far as I know, all Belgians are concerned by the Belgian government and its deeds.
It's not the airlines, caterers or touroperators that go on strike, it's their people.

[Mirror]

So I shouldn't expect problems

[Passenger]

As far as I know, all Belgians are concerned by the Belgian government and its deeds.
It's not the airlines, caterers or touroperators that go on strike, it's their people.

Well, these people then should do something that hurts only the government and/or Di Rupo, and not the passengers and the whole aviation & travel trade.

[cnc]

As far as I know, all Belgians are concerned by the Belgian government and its deeds.
It's not the airlines, caterers or touroperators that go on strike, it's their people.

Well, these people then should do something that hurts only the government and/or Di Rupo, and not the passengers and the whole aviation & travel trade.

agreed! cut of their electricity and water or something but don't sabotage people and employers who have nothing todo with them

[airazurxtror]

There is an European Summit to be held at Brussels on the 30 january; it is possible that the date be changed because of the general strike and possible paralysis of all transports ("Le Soir" today, page 3).

[B.Inventive]

Passenger: If you have a good alternative which is effective in the same way, by all means I urge you to present it here...

[airazurxtror]

Due to the strike, the European Summit will indeed be held on sunday 29 january in place of Monday 30th.

[Passenger]

Passenger: If you have a good alternative which is effective in the same way, by all means I urge you to present it here...

OK, let me help you. Bur first of all, allow me to disagree with your remark that a “strike is effective”. A strike never has a result: a strike only causes damages. Sometimes a company can limit the damage by submitting to the union demands, but that doesn’t change the aim of a strike = to damage. Another reason for going on strike is the small part of sadism and destruction, hidden in each of us. Union delegates suffer far more from it then average citizens, and organizing a strike is normal for them. Example: the strike by public servants (?) of Monday 22 December 2011. The whole public transport in most cities was on strike. Result? Hundreds of car-less people depending on public transport had to take a non-paid day off at work, hundreds of shop keepers had less income that day, thousands of car-less citizens had to pay for a taxi. Influence on this strike on the government policy: rien, niks, nada, nothing.

But anyway - try this to get attention from the government (= I assume that is what you want):

* dress up in black till “your demands are fulfilled”;
* dress up in clown suits till “your demands are fulfilled”;
* ask your union boss to withdrawn 500 euros from the union’s Swiss bank account and buy chocolates from it. Give them to all passengers, together with a leaflet in which you try to explain why you are angry;
* ask all crew from the Hifly CS-TMT and all ERJ135/145 from the Belgian army to become suddenly sick, just at the very moment that our beloved king or our prince wants to use it. Or worse: when His Royal Highness Elio D.R. wants to use it;
* block off the entrance of Wetstraat 16 / Rue de la Loi 16 Brussels. Indeed, office of HRH Di Rupo;
* deflate the four tyres from the nice Audi A8 from our prime minister;
* for your colleagues from the public transport: organize a ride-for-free-day.

Do whatever you want, but do not harm private companies who have not voted for this government.

[Acid-drop]

Sh*t, now i notice i have to fly to london that day.
any idea of the impact of the strike ?
Nothing has been announced yet, has it ?

[shockcooling]

Well, chance is that even Brussels Airlines pilots will join the strike, there is still no constructive plan since our "pension plan" was abruptly changed late December...

[airazurxtror]

Nothing has been announced yet, has it ?

It has :

http://www.fgtb.be/web/guest/press-rele ... l_id=14124

http://www.fgtb.be/web/guest/news-nl/-/ ... l_id=10187

[Acid-drop]

damn :/
i fly BA, but I guess there will be actions on the ground

[EBBU]

As far as I know, nothing has been decided yet. I did hear that the unions were going to present a strong case to the ATCOs at Belgocontrol in favour of joining the strike. I heard nothing about it after that initial announcement.

Anyway, I think that there will be enough ATCOs willing to work that day at CANAC (ACC and APP) to avoid a closure of belgian airspace. (Simply because faith in the unions is so low among the ATCOs. Especially since they abandonned the controllers last time around.)

As for ATC at the airports, I have no idea. But I think it would be a safe bet to say EBLG TWR will join the strike (the french socialist union has a firm grip on that TWR).

[Passenger]

Nothing has been announced yet, has it ?

It has :

http://www.fgtb.be/web/guest/press-rele ... l_id=14124
http://www.fgtb.be/web/guest/news-nl/-/ ... l_id=10187

This is not an announcement. These are union leiflets to get more votes at the forthcoming social elections.

An announcement is a clear explication with details about who will / who will not strike at Belgian airports. Example: "the whole Belgian state television VRT/RTBf will go on strike, except the journalists because we want them to report on our strike". Another example: "all hospitals will run on weekend service and all emergency services are operating as usual except Hospital X in Y which will be closed".

But you won't make such announcement because the more innocent passengers are stranded, the more you call your strike "a success".

[airazurxtror]

An announcement is a clear explication with details about who will / who will not strike at Belgian airports.

When a general strike is announced by the Unions, it means that any worker anywhere is backed by his/her union if he/she chooses not to work on that day.
But nobody, no union can say in advance if, actually, there will be a strike, where and how many strikers there will be.

[tolipanebas]

BeCA calls upon all Belgian pilots to join the strike too, because they feel the Belgian government is not willing to take into account the specifics of their profession and thus the need for an earlier retirement age.

http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail. ... 120123_181

[Passenger]

BeCA calls upon all Belgian pilots to join the strike too, because they feel the Belgian government is not willing to take into account the specifics of their profession and thus the need for an earlier retirement age.

http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail. ... 120123_181

If the problem lies with the government, why the hell do you screw up tourists and business? Most of them probably haven't voted for one of the government parties - and the foreign travellers haven't voted for any belgian political party at all.

Block off the Wetstraat/ Rue de la Loi if you dare.

[tolipanebas]

Those "private companies which have no ties with government" can put far more pressure on the Belgian government to come up with an improved offer to flying staff, one that takes into account the internationally agreed age limits for pilots to start with, for instance
OR
alternatively those "private companies which have no ties with government" can start looking for fiscal solutions so Belgian pilots can build up their own pension reserves elsewhere so as to still retire at a realistic age, for instance through a mechanism of outflagging.

Simply saying, "we don't agree either, but it's the law now, so let's just get on with business and work no less than 10 (!) years longer as from now", is just not going to do the trick, I am sorry. If the law doesn't get changed by this government soon, then Belgian airlines will just have to come up with ways to get around the law; simple as that really.