IT WAS like a scene from years gone by Blow after blow has been levelled at Belgian workers through the 1990s. On December 13 1995 more than 70,000 public sector trades unionists took their want against pavausauon and austerity into the streets of Brussels.
The socialist-conservative coalition comms and shipbuilding workers. When they turned on Sabena, the state airline workers there knew that strue. gle was the only road. That's when the build-up to the march. jointly organised by public sector unions, started.
The coalition, led by Jean-Luc DeJuppé in France. However their unre. lenting salami tactics - taking on service after service - don't fool many people anymore. They all take place in the framework of the coalition's Global Plan". The Plan aims to bring Belgium's debt-laden economy on line for European Monetary Union. More voked massive oppowhen and 1994- won't disappear until it is beaten.
Nevertheless, the sheer scale of the December 13 demonstration was a shock, and the best kind of shock too. Frans Penoa, a cauct of the mootrale Made union federation, skepti carly predicico a tumour or just Iv.w In fact, it turned out to be Belgium's biggest ever demonstration against the Maastricht process. How could the union leaders have been so wrong? How could they have failed to sense the changing climate. across western Europe, which resulted from the French strikes? The sad fact is that the union leaders Plan — which pro. The union leaders wanted the march to relaunch negotiations with the government so introduced in 1993 they could return to their normal sedentary lives the march to relaunch their negotia. tions with the government so they It's not convincing advice. could return to their normal sedentary lives. Their call for the demonstration soon develoned an uncontrollable dynamic: it showed the possibility of public sector workers in different unions and federations acting as a single force. This demonstration alone was not enough to force a reversal of the atprivatisation plans for the rail and telecomms. However the march proved that a real willingness exists amongst - public sector work• sation and otner atSadly that's the - kind of proof the ver considered the possibility of a union leaders want to ignore. The di issive demonstration. They wanted after the march they said worke needed to go back to work and think. The government wasn't convinced that the march was anything else than a gesture: that's why the following day the bourgeois daily Le Soir announced: "Next time: social security reform". Unless une unson icaocis wise up. B probably will have to be an attack of that scale on social welfare that gets this kind of a united response from them again.
ll would be a serous errorto waltor that to happen. The union leaders are seriously hampered by believing all the government's fairy-stories about pros perity through Monetary Union.
Perhaps they'd be better listening to the leader of Belgium's CSC employ. ers" confederation: Jacques Lorez recently exniained that *the monetan norms risk making Europe a social desert."
The march on December 13 was filled with slogans that showed a growing awareness of the reactionary role of Monetary Union - that sentiment needs to be built upon in the year ahead.
Socialist Outlook 95 • January 20 1996.