Anne Demelenne
Anne Demelenne, the General Secretary of the Belgian trade union confederation FGTB, explains why the unions in Belgium are striking today (Monday) against the austerity measures which their new government is implementing – just like governments all over Europe.
The three Belgian union confederations have called a general strike on Monday to protest against the Belgian Government’s austerity package. Austerity is not inevitable. There are alternatives. But the Government’s approach left unions without an alternative and made the General Strike itself inevitable.
The Belgian unions believe that instead of austerity, we need a plan for jobs to create quality and sustainable employment; rolling back anti-social pension and welfare benefit reform; ensuring wages keep up with inflation, thus protecting purchasing power; investing in public services since we all need teachers, firefighters, nurses etc; taxing wealth and capital gains instead of labour.
