Following the 2024 Belgian federal election, and prolonged negotiations, a new Belgian federal government has finally been in place since 3 February 2025. This economically-right-oriented government has come up with a list of measures in the areas of taxation, employment and unemployment, pension, security, immigration, mobility, climate, defence.
For example, the minimum retirement age for military personnel (currently 56 years) or SNCB railways staff (currently 55 years) will be gradually increased by one year per year to reach 67 years. A scheme which allows police officers to retire at 59 years will also be revised and might eventually disappear. [*]
If this sounds like a recipe for social unrest, you are right.
Belgian trade unions have since announced their opposition, including rail unions which are opposing the changes to pension rights of rail staff.
As a result, it is expected that rail transport operations will be particularly impacted by any industrial action on top what we have already experienced i.e. a week strike from 22 February 10 pm to 2 March 10 pm.
New strikes were announced on Friday 28th February:
– From 23 March at 22h to 30 March at 22h
– 18 days of strike in the next 5 months, which will now include general strike on 31 March.
What was the reaction from the Commissions Administration?
Using politically correct euphemisms, we could call it a nuanced one. Publicly, the administration advised staff to regularly check the online schedules of SNCB.
Let’s be honest, does the administration genuinely think that those using public transport do not already check online schedules regularly? Does the administration even use public transport to commute? The ‘helpful’ information is one more example of all the responsibility being put on the individual when, with a bit of thought, there are other options available.
We consider that the time has come for serious decisions and not token gestures.
With many transport services reduced to 40% of normal schedule during the previous strike (or even to 20% for some local trains), we have been contacted by colleagues who struggle to get to the office and back home.
On Monday 24 February we wrote a letter to Mr Stephen Quest , the HR Director-General appealing to him to declare the strike a force majeure and apply the corresponding articles of the Working Time and Hybrid Working Decision and inform managers and staff about the possibility of 100% of teleworking during the strike period. We renewed our appeal to Mr Stephen Quest on Friday 14 March.
These appeals to make use of this already-existing flexibility options were answered in a letter Mr Stephen Quest sent to Generation 2004 on Monday night, 17 March .
Our continued appealing to the common sense and human side of DG HR seems to have brought some glimpse of hope for affected colleagues:
“Pursuant [Article 12(1) of the Commission Decision C(2022)1788 of 24.3.2022 on working time and hybrid working], DG HR may authorise telework at the request of a Directorate-General or Service for all or part of a service or department. However, trains were still running during the strike, although less frequently, and DG HR did not receive any requests from Directorates-General or Services to implement this provision.
Nevertheless, should a staff member not have had any options allowing them to come to the office that week, the line manager could authorise teleworking at the place of employment in the interest of the service in Sysper. The HR Correspondents were informed of this possibility by DG HR in advance of the strike. The above-mentioned approach will be taken for all future train strikes covering at least a full working week where some trains are still running. In these cases, if necessary, both staff and line managers should be flexible with respect to changing the days for coming to the office in the week concerned.”
We welcome this reaction even though we find it not fully adapted to the existing situation.
The answer seems to be shifting the responsibility onto DGs and Services in order to allow for more flexibility during a working week. This however might lead to an unequal treatment of colleagues in different services. It also proposes colleagues to joggle with days in the office and teleworking days, rather than straightforward offer more teleworking on strike days. Such weekly shifting can be difficult to implement during upcoming one full week strike.
We will continue to be vigilant and to monitor the situation.
Finally, we show solidarity with our Belgian rail employees, and quietly hope for their reciprocity in case the Council proposes to fiddle with our pension rights.
As always, we would love to hear from you. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us or leave a comment below if you have been adversely concerned by a limited flexibility of teleworking arrangement during the upcoming rail strikes
If you appreciate our work, please consider becoming a member of Generation 2004.
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[*] To put this in perspective, for EU officials the age of retirement has gone from 60 to 66 following the 2 staff regulations reforms. The average retirement age in the EU is 61.3 years, ranging from 58.3 years in Slovenia to 65.7 years in Denmark. The statutory pension age in Belgium in 2023 was 65 years for men and women, while from France it was 62 and in Germany 65 and 11 months (Eurostat). The age of retirement is set to increase to 67 years in the UK starting in 2026 and then to 2028 at an as-yet-unfixed date.
