EPSU Executive Committee meets online amid landmark Belgian strike action

This month in labour history

3-01-1960 During a meeting, André Renard, leader of the FGTB, publicly condemns the demand of the demonstrators who shout: "Marche sur Bruxelles!" Worse still, he puts forward claims capable of dividing the Flemish and Walloon workers. [more]

6-01-1961 A mass demonstration in Liège ends with clashes with the police in the station area. The gendarmes wound two workers who succumb in the following days. [more]

7-01-1961 The general strike is declining. André Renard, leader of the FGTB, defies the workers, believing that it is "an economic strike which puts pressure on capitalism and the state". [more]

14-01-1961 The general strike ends. The metal workers in Liege, in Hainaut and the gas companies resist the recovery and is often done to the song of the International. The sanctioned comrades are assiduously defended. [more]

21-01-1961 After 6 weeks, the last strikers, the 120,000 metallurgists from the Liège and Charleroi basins, return to work with a feeling of failure. [more]