No end to bus strike in Wallonia

26 May 2005

BRUSSELS – Bus drivers are still on strike across Wallonia after planned talks broke down on Wednesday.

Bus fleets were grounded across the region – in Tournai, Mouscron, Mons, La Louvière, Namur, Nivelles and Lasnes – on Wednesday morning as part of the protest. In the provinces of both Namur and Nivelles the two main bus depots were shut down.

And not a single bus was running in Liège province, as well as in Mons, Casteau, Eugies, La Louvière, Charleroi, Mouscron et Tournai.

The strike was due to continue on Thursday and probably Friday for all buses on the Liège-Verviers lines, Le Soir online reported on Wednesday.

Trade unions and the Walloon Regional Transport Society (SRWT) were due to hold talks on Tuesday that were called off.

André Antoine, the Walloon transport minister, called on Wednesday morning for renewed talks that were due to be held that afternoon.

But the so-called social conciliators, charged with facilitating this dialogue, resigned from their posts on Wednesday.

The president and the vice-president of the ‘qualified equal sub-commission’ for Wallonia’s TEC bus operators, Jean-Louis Richard and André Blaimont, decided to at once hand over their mandate to Belgian Employment Minister Freya Van den Bossche.

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Subject: Belgian news