gara2 strike hari ini gw ke kampus naik sepeda, lumayan buat olah
raga..he2...berikut info ttg strike:
Tio
Striking Against the Moon
Brussels is convulsed in a general strike, that has closed down the
metro, buses, trains, some schools and lord alone what else, the stroll
across the grey city this morning was quiet as the Brusselaars took the
opportunity to blame the Unions for not being able to get to work. Why
are they striking?
They are protesting about the increase in the cost of living. They
may as well be striking against the moon. In this moment of financial
madness to strike against the rise in commodity prices is bananas in
the extreme, pointless, expensive and self defeating.
Outside the Bourse in the centre of town, Nescafe had set up a
merchandising stall, that was doing a roaring trade with the various
Trade Union reps. The Socialist, Liberal and Christian Democrat (yes
officially humanist but they are still Christian Democrats) unions all
have different uniforms and make quite a colourful display, if in a
'Habitat' primary-colours fashion.
Strike brings Belgium to a halt
A countrywide strike in Belgium brought the public transport system
to its knees, affecting trains, trams and buses. Unions were protesting
over what they say is the government’s failure to respond to rising
prices.
Motorways were clogged with cars during the
rush hours, with tailbacks of 300 kilometres reported. One driver said:
“I think that first we need negotiations to clear up some things and
they should only take action after that. So we are sort of being held
hostage, we just happen to work here and we’ve got no way of getting to
work.”
Eurostar services to Britain and France were
suspended. Unions want to see the government tackle inflation, which
hit a 24-year high in July of just under six per cent.
Workers from the finance sector protested in the city centre, worried about
their jobs. Miranda Ulens is from socialist union FGTB.
She said: “We can see today that some companies are having trouble but
this is only the beginning and the whole sector, all of the Belgian
economy will have problems. So we need to send a strong signal that the
workers are mobilised and have fears and worries.”
Last week the Belgian government was busy salvaging the country’s two main
banks Fortis and Dexia.
