Belgian public sector workers halted public transport in a work stoppage over budget cuts on Tuesday, increasing pressure on a government already battling with prison guard and rail strikes.
Workers in local and federal administration, the postal service, the former state telecom operator and schools staged protests in Brussels and other large Belgian cities.
Chris Reniers, chairwoman of the Socialist ACOD union in Flanders, said the protest was over a reduction of personnel, under-investment in public services, wages and working conditions and pensions.
Only a limited service of buses, metros and trams was running in the capital Brussels, while some schools and hospitals across the country also reported that staff had joined the protests.
Railway workers, particularly those in the southern region of Wallonia, have disrupted train services for almost a week over the plans to reduce the number of days off they can claim. There were almost no trains operating in Wallonia were all but halted on Tuesday.
High-speed operator Eurostar said its trains were running normally between London and Brussels, while Thalys scrapped some trains between Brussels and Paris and all trains from Brussels to Germany.
However, there was a possible end in sight to a month-long strike of prison guards after interior minister Koen Geens reached a provisional deal with four of six unions. – Reuters