Three times fewer strike days in 2015 compared to previous year

Unionized workers in Belgium last year were on strike for a total of 207,563 days, three times fewer days than in 2014 when there was a record number of 760,297 strike days recorded, report De Tijd and L'Echo based on figures from the National Social Security Office.

The excessively high number of strike days in 2014 is due to Belgium's "hot autumn", or series of planned actions by the three major unions, which protested against the austerity policies of the then newly formed Michel Government. In December alone, there were three general strikes in various provinces and a general strike throughout the country.

According to L'Echo, the 2014 strikes were concentrated mainly in Flanders, while in 2015 it was vice versa, with twice as many strike days in Wallonia as in Brussels or Flanders.

In all likelihood, the number of strike days this year will be higher than in 2015.