Belgium - Unions call national action day against federal austerity - September 30, 2026

Unions ABVV-FGTB and ACV-CSC announced on 8 September that they will take action on 9 October against the spending cuts of the federal Government. ABVV says the "Arizona" Government has spent 19 months cutting into the pillars of the social model: pensions, wages, working conditions and working time, sickness protection, unemployment insurance, social security and public services. It also accuses the Government of repeatedly presenting social dialogue with done deals, hollowing it out or simply ignoring it. ABVV wants the Government to change course: no further erosion of automatic wage indexation, no VAT increase and no annualisation of working time. If the Government does not budge, ABVV threatens a national strike in the week of 23 November. The liberal union Synova later said it will not join the demonstration and will not call on its members to take part.

Read on: in Dutch…

More information: https://www.etui.org/newsletters