Strike on 10 October: What are the consequences?

Tomorrow, Tuesday 10 October, is a strike day. It is expected that especially public services will be affected, but actions are also expected in the private sector.

What are the practical consequences of such a strike for the employees?

Any employee that goes on strike is not entitled to salary, since he did not work. The strike day will be treated as a working day for the calculation of vacation days, health insurance, child allowance and pension. So, there are no consequences in these areas. If the striking employee were to have an accident on his way to or from the strike or during the strike, this will not be considered as a working accident or an accident on the way to or from work, since he was not working.

Employees who do not want to strike, but arrive to work late or cannot get to the office because of the strike, will probably not be entitled to a guaranteed salary. After all, the strike has been planned for a long time, so a solution should have been found to get to work on time.

It may be useful for an employer to provide alternatives for employees who are prepared to work such as telework, organised transportation or carpooling.

Temporary agency workers cannot be employed during a strike and are not entitled to salary. However, they can claim unemployment benefits, since the strike constitutes a case of force majeure to them.

Finally, if the access to the company is blocked, it is in certain cases possible, to - even preventively - seek redress before the courts in order to safeguard access to the company.    

> Strikers are not entitled to salary.
Do not employ temporary agency workers during the strike.
Foresee alternatives in time for employees who are willing to work: teleworking, carpooling or organised transportation.