Rubbish collection services in Brussels have been disrupted by a strike that started on Thursday 2 May and will last until Sunday 5 May.
Agence Bruxelles-Propreté (ABP) announced the strike on Thursday. The municipalities and districts affected are Anderlecht, the area known as the Pentagon in the city centre, the area surrounding the canal, Bockstael in Laeken, Louise, Forest, Ixelles, Jette and Saint-Gilles.
ABP has advised residents to keep any uncollected rubbish bags inside "wherever possible" and is planning a reduced number of collection rounds to make up for the strike, depending on staffing availability.
The strike will resume again for one day on 10 May. For all dates, morning collections are not in operation and it remains unknown whether or not evening collections will go ahead.
"ABP regrets this strike action and apologises to the people of Brussels affected by it", the government agency stated.
Negotiating with unions
The strike went ahead due to "fairly standard" discussions between trade unions and management, according to the latter. "The main point of disagreement concerns leave in 2023, which has not yet been granted because of the fairly high rate of absenteeism we are facing," ABP spokesperson Carl Dufour told Belga News Agency.
Negotiations "are trying to strike a balance between carrying out our tasks despite reduced staffing levels, combating this high absenteeism and granting the said leave," he explained.
Some mechanised container collection rounds are also affected by the strike but specific collections (such as for glass bubbles, bulky items and chemical waste) will go ahead as normal.
All regional recycling parks are open apart from Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, which closed on Thursday but has resumed operations from Friday.
