As wages stagnate and living costs surge, general strikes are becoming a global rallying cry against. General strikes have been erupting and restarting almost simultaneously in places like Greece, Belgium and Nepal. Unions and union confederations are playing out their role as defensive organizations capable of coordinated actions in attempts to claw back some of the lost wages for workers, but they are also, at the same time barely putting up any fight and limiting the effectiveness of the actions by limiting their time duration, collaborating with the business class and its state and dissipating the energies of the workers, while essential services and livable wages are increasingly out of reach as militarization is increasing and profit rates are falling in preparation for the next global capitalist crisis and global imperialist wars looming in the near future.

On March 31, 2025, Belgium capital was temporarily paralyzed by a nationwide general strike, as millions of workers protested the government’s austerity measures, demanding better wages and social protections. Schools closed, hospitals operated on an emergency-only basis, and public transport including rail, buses, and flights was largely suspended.

The government’s plans to slash €5.4 billion from pensions and healthcare, introduce greater unemployment restrictions, suppress wages, and push nearly 20% of the population into poverty while expanding military spending by €4 billion ($4.2 billion) to €8.6 billion by 2028.

The general strike saw millions of workers walk out in protest against austerity measures imposed by Prime Minister Bart De Wever’s coalition, with close to 100,000 of them marching in Brussels and having the effect of shutting down schools, hospitals, transport, and industrial sectors.

Despite the strike’s massive scale, its effectiveness was blunted by government and boss linked union leaders, notably the CGSLB/ACLVB administration, which sided with the government, limiting the strike’s impact by agreeing to negotiation with the government and limiting the strike action to 24 hours, while the government mobilized riot police against the workers.

While this strike could have posed a serious challenge to the government’s agenda, union leaders ensured it remained contained, framing demands in broad economic terms rather than pushing for indefinite coordinated strikes and crafting clear economic demands and functioning like a proper defensive organization should, or even going on the offensive with the power of the strike.

The bourgeois groups like Voka dismissed the strike as "irresponsible", and mayors were pressured to keep industrial areas operational. The coalition refused to concede in 24 hours with De Wever making clear that austerity policies would not be reversed. Yet, the strike shows clear discontent and willingness to strike from workers, with blockades in retail sectors and mass transport disruptions signaling growing opposition to further immiseration of the working class in preparation for the next global war. Since union leadership is playing a collaborationist role with the capitalist class it is clear that workers must seize control of the unions and form independent decision making bodies on the shop floor of their workplaces along with coordination organizations inside or outside the established regime union confederations, depending on the possibilities afforded to them in Belgium, to steer the unions and and to coordinate indefinite strike action with clear strong economic demands that are actually able to hurt and cripple the operation of the businesses, the government and military production for enough time and loss of profits that the bosses have to acquiesce.