Maxi strike at Brussels Charleroi Airport, 30 thousand passengers stranded

Brussels – Charleroi Airport (BSCA), fifty kilometers south of the European capital, has been paralyzed since the crack of dawn by a maxi staff strike. All scheduled flights – 186, according to management – have been canceled, leaving some 30 thousand passengers stranded. In the morning, the airport advised passengers departing later in the day not to go to the facility and to contact their airline.

BSCA management accused unions of a ‘wild strike’ — that is, of failing to issue any official call for strike action, which affects most operational functions: baggage, check-in, and aircraft refueling. Unions had announced the strike on Sept. 4, with the condition that the strike could only occur at the end of a 14-day warning period.

On the other hand, the CNE — National Union of Workers in Walloon Belgium — said that the collective participation in the strike is evidence of the feeling of staff fatigue. Unions claim that they warned BSCA management of problems within the company for several months but have received no concrete response. According to reports in the Belgian daily Le Soir, unions notified the strike would continue into Friday as there has been no agreement between the parties.