After nearly two weeks of crippling walk-outs, public-transport operator LETEC announced on Saturday that buses and trams across Wallonia are ‘progressively returning to normal’. Only the Jemeppe-sur-Meuse and Eupen depots remained idle on Saturday morning, according to union spokesperson Serge Delchambre, with Charleroi running at 90 percent capacity and Mons already back at full strength. Full network restoration is expected by Monday. (brusselstimes.com)
The unlimited strike, which began on 26 January, protested regional austerity plans that unions said would slash benefits negotiated in lieu of wage hikes. During the peak of the action, more than 100 routes—including Liège’s new tram line—were completely suspended, paralysing commuter flows and forcing companies to scramble for emergency shuttle buses and tele-work arrangements. The walk-out is estimated to have cost employers upwards of €9 million in lost productivity, according to the Walloon Business Federation.
Amid the turmoil, VisaHQ can help ensure that travel and relocation plans stay on schedule: its Belgium portal (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) streamlines the processing of work permits, residence cards and short-stay visas, giving mobility managers and individual travelers one less logistical headache when buses and trams grind to a halt.
![Wallonia’s twelve-day public-transport strike winds down as LETEC services resume]()
For global-mobility teams relocating staff to secondary Belgian cities such as Liège, Namur and Charleroi, the strike exposed the fragility of local transport links compared with Brussels. Assignees relying on public transport were advised to rent cars or rely on company-arranged taxis—solutions that can violate Belgian tax limits on commuter benefits if not structured carefully.
Although Saturday’s breakthrough follows marathon talks in Jambes, the deal is only provisional. Management agreed to ‘freeze’ the contested reforms pending a cost-benefit audit, while unions pledged a 30-day moratorium on further stoppages. If talks collapse, strike action could resume with just 48 hours’ notice. Employers should therefore keep contingency travel plans on standby and monitor LETEC’s depot-level service updates.
The episode also strengthens calls for a unified Belgian mobility budget that would allow employees to flexibly swap between public transport, car-sharing and micro-mobility when one mode fails. Several HR associations plan to lobby the federal government to fast-track the budget’s expansion in the spring tax bill. (brusselstimes.com)
The unlimited strike, which began on 26 January, protested regional austerity plans that unions said would slash benefits negotiated in lieu of wage hikes. During the peak of the action, more than 100 routes—including Liège’s new tram line—were completely suspended, paralysing commuter flows and forcing companies to scramble for emergency shuttle buses and tele-work arrangements. The walk-out is estimated to have cost employers upwards of €9 million in lost productivity, according to the Walloon Business Federation.
Amid the turmoil, VisaHQ can help ensure that travel and relocation plans stay on schedule: its Belgium portal (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) streamlines the processing of work permits, residence cards and short-stay visas, giving mobility managers and individual travelers one less logistical headache when buses and trams grind to a halt.
For global-mobility teams relocating staff to secondary Belgian cities such as Liège, Namur and Charleroi, the strike exposed the fragility of local transport links compared with Brussels. Assignees relying on public transport were advised to rent cars or rely on company-arranged taxis—solutions that can violate Belgian tax limits on commuter benefits if not structured carefully.
Although Saturday’s breakthrough follows marathon talks in Jambes, the deal is only provisional. Management agreed to ‘freeze’ the contested reforms pending a cost-benefit audit, while unions pledged a 30-day moratorium on further stoppages. If talks collapse, strike action could resume with just 48 hours’ notice. Employers should therefore keep contingency travel plans on standby and monitor LETEC’s depot-level service updates.
The episode also strengthens calls for a unified Belgian mobility budget that would allow employees to flexibly swap between public transport, car-sharing and micro-mobility when one mode fails. Several HR associations plan to lobby the federal government to fast-track the budget’s expansion in the spring tax bill. (brusselstimes.com)
