Public services in Brussels and the rest of Belgium were disrupted on Wednesday morning by a nationwide strike initiated by unions amid rising electricity bills, Agerpres reported.

The strike, initiated by the largest trade union confederation in Belgium, FGTB (socialist), is supported by the CSC (Christian) trade union. The two unions see the strike as a means of pressure to raise wages in certain sectors.

The FGTB demanded “amendments to the wage law,” which sets a framework deemed too restrictive in national negotiations with employers.

In contrast, the CGSLB (Liberal) trade union prefers to speak of a “day of action” rather than a general strike and says it “supports broad social protest against the purchasing power crisis”.

Public transport is paralyzed in Brussels

According to several trade union representatives, “hundreds of strike pickets” will be held in front of individual administrations and enterprises.

In Brussels, the activity of public transport company STIB was severely affected. At 06:00 local time, only 1 metro line was operating, which connects the east and west of the Belgian capital, and also serves the area where the headquarters of the Commission and the Council of the EU are located.

During the day, travelers will be informed in real time through various channels (STIB website, mobile app, social media and station screens) about the updated situation, but the day before they were already advised to find alternative transport solutions for their travels. to Brussels on Wednesday.

The TEC transport network is also disrupted and travelers are advised to consider alternative transport during the day.

Problems at airports in Belgium

At Belgium’s main airport, Brussels-Zaventem, 55% of scheduled flights were canceled on Wednesday due to staff shortages. Discussions with partners and airlines continued Tuesday evening to determine whether additional measures are needed to avoid chaos.

The purpose of canceling or rescheduling flights is to avoid long queues and delays. Affected passengers will be contacted personally by their airline.

Charleroi Airport (South), the second busiest airport and the main continental hub of low-cost airline Ryanair, will remain closed. Access to Terminal 1 is closed, affecting 120 commercial flights and approximately 20,000 passengers.

Liège Airport is not expected to be officially closed for the day, but it will generally be closed. Cargo carriers have already been advised to base their planes at other airports.

Serious disruptions on Belgian railways as well

Only a quarter of the activity of a normal working day will be provided on railway transport.

Belgium’s national rail transport company (SNCB) expects major disruptions on Tuesday evening; No trains will run on Wednesday in the two French-speaking southern provinces (Namur and Luxembourg), SNCB warned.

The two national Belgian television channels, VRT in Flanders and RTBF in Wallonia, will not be affected to the same extent.

Therefore, it is expected that RTBF programs will not be disrupted at all and some VRT programs will not be broadcast.