Belgium’s three big trade unions, the socialist ABVV, Christian ACV and liberal ACLVB are organising a new national demonstration in the Belgian and Flemish capital on Tuesday 12 May. The unions made the announcement in a joint press release yesterday. During the previous demonstration, on 12 March, 80,000 people marched through the streets of our beautiful capital.
The trade unions are continuing in their opposition to the federal government’s austerity measures. This time, they are focusing on pension reforms, high energy prices and price index-related top-ups to wages and benefits.
“It is precisely against the context of rising prices and uncertainty that the government has chosen to attack the automatic indexation of wages,” the unions say.
The unions disagree with the actions of federal PM Bart De Wever’s 5-way government, the party colours of the 5 coalition parties - Flemish nationalists, Christian democrats and socialists and Francophone liberals and centrists - all feature on the flag of the US state of Arizona, providing shorthand for this administration.
‘The ACV, the ABVV and the ACLVB, together with a broad coalition of civil society organisations, are urgently calling on the Arizona government to focus on new sources of budgetary revenue. The workers of this country have already contributed enough to efforts. It is time to consider seriously a fair contribution from those with the strongest shoulders.’
Two previous national demonstrations took place on 14 October 2025 and 12 March 2026, attracting around 80,000 demonstrators on each occasion, according to police estimates. During the last demonstration, the ABVV trade union itself reported 100,000 participants.