Belgian Teachers Rally in Liège Over Budget Cuts

Thousands of teachers marched through the streets of Liège on Thursday, September 10, in the first major collective action of the new school year against the austerity measures imposed by the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (FWB) government. The procession set off from Liège-Guillemins station at around 10:00 and made its way toward Place Saint-Lambert, with organisers calling for a “refinancing of the school” (RTBF).

The demonstration, convened by the united union front — CSC-Enseignement, CGSP-Enseignement and SETCa-SEL — deliberately passed schools at every level, from nursery to higher education, to underscore that the cuts affect the entire system. Teachers travelled to Liège from across Wallonia, including a contingent of 200 to 250 who departed from Charleroi-Central station.

Crowd Estimates Diverge

Estimates of the crowd size differed sharply. Liège police put the number of demonstrators at between 5,000 and 6,000 as the procession gathered at the station (RTL Info), while unions estimated roughly 15,000 participants. For comparison, a front-commun march in Brussels on 9 April drew between 10,000 and 15,000 people, according to QU4TRE.

A Year of Contestation

The protest is the latest chapter in a confrontation that has run for more than a year, since the MR–Les Engagés government announced roughly €500 million in savings over four years in October 2025, including €86.7 million in education for 2026. The FWB is grappling with a debt estimated at €14.25 billion — about 105 percent of its receipts — and an annual deficit of some €1.5 billion (RTBF).

Among the most contested measures, which took effect at the start of the 2026–2027 school year, are an increase in the weekly teaching load for upper-secondary teachers from 20 to 22 periods — a 10 percent rise in workload without salary compensation — and a rise in higher-education registration fees from roughly €835 to nearly €1,200, the first indexation since 2011. A less generous sick-leave regime and changes to the end-of-career system have added to the anger.

“In 32 years of career, I’ve seen reforms and done protests, but this is a total upheaval and a lack of dialogue like I have never known,” said Anne-Françoise, a psychology teacher, according to RTBF.

Unions Say Dialogue Has Broken Down

The central grievance voiced on Thursday was not only the content of the measures but the manner in which they were adopted. Union leaders accused Education Minister Valérie Glatigny (MR) of pushing through reforms without genuine consultation.

“Despite everything the minister may announce, we have not seen the lines move during the summer holidays — quite the contrary,” said Roland Lahaye, secretary-general of CSC-Enseignement. “The minister sticks to her positions. She absolutely does not want to back down.”

Thierry Delhoux, a CSC union official, pointed to the process itself. “With Ms. Glatigny, there is no consultation and not much negotiation either,” he told RTL Info. “She arrives with a text, it is presented. The different actors say all the bad they think of these proposals. And then she says thank you, I have heard you, and she pushes the text through as it is.”

Thierry Castin, a cooking and restaurant-service teacher, echoed that frustration: “Still angry, of course, because she pushes through her reforms without any real consultation with us. And frankly, we absolutely want that to change.”

Government Position

At the last meeting with union representatives, Glatigny acknowledged that the budgetary situation had not improved but said she would not propose any new savings in education before the end of the legislative term. Ministers have framed the measures as unavoidable given the FWB’s finances, and the governing majority has pointed to international comparisons on teacher workloads.

What to Watch

The scale of Thursday’s turnout is contested, and some teachers acknowledged that momentum may be difficult to sustain. A union official told RTL Info that “the movement is flagging” — a candid admission as the school year gets fully under way.

Unions have called for the movement to be hardened and for a return to structured concertation with the minister. Whether the Liège demonstration marks a renewed escalation or the high-water mark of a year-long campaign may depend on the government’s willingness to reopen dialogue — and on how many teachers remain prepared to take to the streets as the term progresses.