There is serious disruption to bus services in parts of Flemish Brabant today (Friday) after drivers at Leuven and Tielt-Winge bus depots walked out in a dispute over shift rosters.
The impact of the strike is greatest on urban routes in Leuven (routes (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9). Many school bus routes in the Leuven area also didn’t run on Friday morning. The drivers are unhappy with a new shift roster system that takes effect from January.
De Lijn’s spokeswoman Astrid Hulshoven told VRT News that “The drivers have not left the depot this morning following talks about the new shift rosters for January 2025. We are making big changes to our network of services around Leuven and there will be a lot of extra work rostered in and the drivers are unhappy about this”.
Sven Desmedt of liberal trade union ACLVB told VRT News that "Not only are there fewer shifts, but way the shifts are put together is totally illogical. They have to drive for a little while in the morning and a little while in the evening”. Mr Desmedt added that this is a threat to the drivers’ work-life balance, not least because the drivers were not consulted prior to the changes”.
"There were talks put everything we put on the table was dismissed by management.
“Absolutely no consideration has been given to what the drivers want or even what they are even able to do. At the moment it is just one-way traffic and that is very regrettable.”
Talks
De Lijn is holding talks with the unions that represent the drivers on Friday morning. The public transport operator regrets the strike (that was unannounced) and apologises for the inconvenience to its passengers. The unions too regret the disruption that is being caused to passengers but say that their members were left with no other choice.
De Lijn advises passengers in Leuven and the surrounding area to check the route planner on its website or app to find out whether the service that they intend to take is still running.