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BELGIAN GENERAL STRIKE
A report of the General Strike that
took place in Belgium in November..
This is an edited version of a
report sent to us, thanks alot to
the Narren group.
Last Summer, the belgian government
decided to start designing a new
policy with amendments to laws and
alterations of this and that
agreement, allegedly to improve the
competitive position of Belgium in
Europe, and thus increase employment
and get out of the Depression. They
called it the Social Pact. At first,
they had meetings with the 'social
partners '( pension funds
organisations etc ), the unions and
the employers organisations. After a
while though, the unions and the
social partners refused to go along
with some of the pact's provisions
and it all got stuck. So the
government changed the name into
Social Plan and went on without
them. But then it got stuck again
somewhere, and it was simply just
such a blatant lie to call it the
Social Plan that it was renamed the
Global Plan. The plan was put
together by the two main parties in
the coalition government, the
Christian Democrats and the
Socialists, who control a half of
the votes in the parliament (
although normally a radical change
like the Plan needs a two thirds
majority to push it through ). The
way the plan was worded and
publicised in the media it was hard
to find out what in fact it was
going to change, but with a bigger
investigation it was revealed that
the Plan was in fact a massive
attack on the poor old proles.
SUMMARY OF THE PLAN
Some of the main changes the Plan
proposed were:
- DOLE: Increasing the time
school-leavers have to be unemployed
before they got dole from 6 to 9
months, chucking you off the dole
after 2 years continuous signing,
and forcing those who they suspected
of being unwilling to work onto
cheap labour schemes for an extra
few quid.
-WAGES: Freezing wages for
1994 and '95, while allowing prices
to rise.
- Scrapping compensation for
small accidents at work that force
people to take time off sick ( well
you should have been more careful !
)..
-PENSIONS AND FAMILY ALLOWANCE
both to go down, guess who's going
without dinner.
-Making 'labour' more
flexible, ie making it so that
workers can be hired and fired
easier, forced to work irregular
shifts, as the boss demands.
- "Tax on 'second houses",
this sounds all very socialist but
in practice also would hit poorer
people and students renting rooms
etc.
All this was in the name of
increasing Belgium's
competitiveness, ie bigger profits
for you know who.
Anyway, the country went into
outrage over the plan. When the
first round of talks broke down, the
ACV, the Christian Labour Union,
broke with the Christian Democrat
Party. The ACV and its socialist
equivalent, the ABVV,
(mis-)represent almost all the
unionised workforce. The ABVV
leaders were reluctant to strike
against the government, partly in
fear of the government falling which
would let in the far right and the
liberals. But as the ACV and the
ABVV's own militants were going out
on strike anyway, the ABVV decided
at a congress to go along with it.
ON THE DAY
On Thursday 18th November the
contents of the Plan were revealed.
On Monday 22nd, the strike was
struck.. 3 of Belgium's 9 provinces
were at a standstill. In a new
tactic, pickets stopped anyone
getting into the "industrial zones"
- pickets of all companies blocked
off roads to stop any firms working.
Lots of burning tyres were used as
barricades ( well needed as it was a
freezing day !), and almost everyone
brought a bottle ! The atmosphere
was good, especially when the pile
of bottles started to grow. It was
the first time in about 15 years
there had been a strike, for most
workers this was their first (
aaahhh, isn't it sweet? ) On the
Wednesday, the remaining 6 provinces
struck and there was hardly anyone
at work. By the Friday ( " vendredi
rouge" or Red Friday ) it was a
national General Strike. On every
day there were demonstrations,
local, provincial and national.
The last time Belgium had such a
nationwide General Strike, in 1936,
the demands included the 40-hour
working week. Alot has changed since
then, but the same spontaneous
movement was visible, coming more
from the grassroots than the
official union bullshitocracy.
As always there were scabs and
people too stupid to enjoy
themselves and have a few days off.
There were a few incidents, but
without major trouble. Even the cops
were on strike (?!) . Some firemen
were called by one boss to put out a
burning barricade, but after
arriving and having a quick look and
a drink they left again. There was
alot of anger directed against
bosses, big and small, as not
surprisingly the bosses organisation
agreed with the Global Plan. After a
few drinks in Charleroi, 50 odd
pickets made a tour of some of the
firms still working and advised them
to stop or else they would smash the
places up with their baseball bats.
On another picketline, a boss turned
up to be refused entry to his works.
Leaving his car, he stormed off to
find some cops to get him in. While
he was gone though the pickets
completely demolished his car and
hid the bits. Some champagne cellars
got plundered. All in all the
workers were as usual creative in
their picketing. People enjoyed
themselves on a cold day, lighting
fireworks, and giving any press with
cameras a 'lively' reception .
As one picket said: " If I didn't
share my house with my girlfriend,
or if I had kids, I don't know how
I'd survive. I mean, I have to pay
the rent, and we've got one car, a
cheap one, but we have to maintain
it and pay insurance. You've got to
buy food and clothes every once in a
while, and you want to go to a movie
or to the pub sometimes, and pay all
the bills. But my money's all gone
by the end of the month, you know?
And then these fat bastards, who've
never been deprived of anything in
their lives tell us we all have to
make offers and give up a
little...who are they to talk? They
earn 2 million a year for god's
sake. I'm just trying to live.
There's people who have it worse
than me. Fucking politicians should
come and work here for a month...:"
AND?
Well for all that, the Global Plan
seems to have been voted through
with minor changes, so it looks like
bad times ahead in Belgium. Not alot
was heard from the unions. since
Not surprisingly, alot of these
changes are attacks the british
State made on us here in the 80s, or
are carrying out now: the same sort
of program is going on in other
european countries. The euro-bosses
are tightening our belts for the
battle for markets with the USA,
Japan etc. There isnt much to say
except to repeat the old saying...."
WE'LL ONLY TIGHTEN OUR BELTS ROUND
THE BOSSES NECKS".