Many marine pilots and other maritime personnel are taking industrial action against the federal government's pension plans. The action that is being organised by the socialist public sector union ACOD got under way on Thursday. Although they are not striking, the pilots are working to rule and this is resulting in longer waiting times for vessels wishing to enter ports such as Antwerp and Ghent.
On Wednesday and Thursday, staff meetings were held to discuss the federal government's pension plans. ACOD’s says Eddy Hendryckx told VRT News that "A young sailor that still has many years to work, will only get a pension of 1,900 euro rather than the 2,400 euro they would get under the current system. We find this quite distressing. A young marine pilot will get up to 45% less pension under the new system”.
According to Mr Hendryckx, emotions ran very high at the meetings. It was then decided that action be taken. The marine pilots are now working to rule and this is causing delays.
It is not just the marine pilots that are taking action. Other staff to such as sailors, skippers and ship escort staff are also taking action.
Around 20 ships waiting in the North Sea to enter the ports of Antwerp and Ghent
Speaking on Friday morning Daphne Vanhoucke of the Maritime Services and Coastal Agency told VRT News that “Currently, at least 22 ships are waiting in the North Sea for a pilot. These have Antwerp or Ghent as their destination. Obviously we are doing our best to help these ships as quickly as possible and keep waiting times as short as possible.”
The Port of Antwerp-Zeebrugge confirms that about a dozen of the ships are destined for them. The ships that had to leave the port of Antwerp on Thursday night did all manage to get away.