Скачать или смотреть Public transport and flights disrupted as workers strike in four provinces

(24 Nov 2014) Public transport and flights were disrupted throughout Belgium on Monday as workers went on strike over new reforms that will extend the pension age and cut funding to public services.
Monday's action in four Belgium provinces, including Hainaut and Antwerp, is part of a month-long campaign against the free-market liberal coalition and will be capped with a nationwide strike on December 15.
Travellers at Charleroi Airport were forced to walk an extra kilometre to get to the terminal due to strikes, and also faced flight delays.
In Antwerp, confused passengers arrived at the central train station only to find that no trains were running.
Some passengers complained of conflicting information on the frequency of trains.
"I didn't realise there would be nothing at all," said Sue Pooley, a British woman who works in Brussels.
The port of Antwerp was also closed with key access points blocked by picket lines.
No ships were allowed into the port and roads were blocked, preventing trucks from carrying cargo to and from the area, said protest organisers.
The government said it was forced to push through stringent austerity measures in order to keep the budget deficit within European Union constraints and insisted businesses needed more lenient tax policies to compete in the global market.
But the trade unions have claimed that government policies only target workers, with extended pension age limits, a freeze on the automatic link between wages and inflation, and cuts in public services which will hit the population as a whole.


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