A labor strike in Belgium grounded flights and stranded passengers
reported by Mehr News Agency quoted by AFP, following the nationwide strike of workers in Belgium in protest of the pension reform plan, air and rail transportation was heavily overshadowed.
Belgium’s terminal operator told AFP that around 40 percent of incoming or outgoing flights at Brussels Airport (Belgium’s largest airport) have been canceled because baggage handlers, security and other personnel have stopped working. .
Brussels’ state-owned airline announced that it had to pre-emptively cancel half of its flights within Europe in order to maintain long-haul operations.
According to the operating company of Charleroi Airport, which is considered the largest center of low-cost Ryanair flights in Europe, flight delays and cancellations can be expected.
Also, the railway lines also witnessed massive cancellations, and two of the three major trains connecting to major cities did not serve each other. Services in Brussels and the French-speaking region of Wallonia in southern Belgium have also been disrupted.
Many teachers have joined the strikes, especially in the Dutch-speaking regions of northern Belgium, where the opinion of the federal authorities on education is important.
Belgium’s three major trade unions have called for a general strike in protest against pension cuts that the next government may approve, and Belgium’s political parties are still trying to form a federal government after June’s election. They are negotiating.
