International trains strike looming

Staff at the NMBS maintenance yard in Forest in Brussels this morning began an unannounced strike when half of the night shift downed tools. The morning shift beginning at 6.00 was expected to follow. The yard principally deals with maintenance of Thalys and Eurostar trains.

The workers’ aim was to hold trains inside the maintenance sheds; however, neither Thalys nor Eurostar were reporting any delays this morning on their websites. “On the Thalys network, there are no major traffic disruptions,” Thalys.com said; “Eurostar services are running normally,” according to Eurostar.com.

However, the night shift, which stopped working at 2.00 this morning, was testing trains due to be rolled out today. If they are not given clearance after an inspection, they cannot be put into service.

The unions at the yard have already announced a 25-hour stoppage to take place from Monday, July 28 at 21.00, which was expected to cause major disruption for international trains. Today’s unexpected strike will give an idea of how that strike will turn out. A wildcat strike took place on July 2-3.

Unions are protesting at plans to get rid of 80 jobs at the yard, from a total workforce of 344, with only 20 new recruitments between now and 2017. “We’re sick of it,” one representative said. “The pressure on us keeps getting worse. There’s forever fewer staff, and still more work, which leads to stress, a higher rate of absence and more industrial accidents.”

Photo: Mauritsvink/Wikimedia