Staff at the reception centres operated by the Belgian asylum agency Fedasil went on strike today at 11 am, the socialist trade union ACOD has announced. “In response to recent events, deteriorating working conditions, the announced closure of federal centres and the threat of dismissal of a member of staff, we have submitted a strike notice,” a press release states.
At 2 pm this afternoon, the 12 directors of the Fedasil centres are expected at the head office in Brussels. They are meeting Fedasil’s general and operational management, after last week they signed an open letter which appeared in the media.
In the letter, staff say that they do not wish to have the consequences of the asylum minister’s policy on their conscience and that they distance themselves “from the daily violations of the rule of law and human dignity, both with regard to asylum seekers and to the staff under your supervision”.
The socialist trade union ACOD sees the summoning of the directors as intimidation and is responding to it today. At 11 am, staff at various centres stopped work for 59 minutes.
“The stoppage also gives staff the opportunity to discuss the situation amongst themselves,” ACOD adds in its press release.
The union has not ruled out further action. According to press agency Belga, the union is due to meet with the Director-General of Fedasil on Thursday.