Belgium Teaching Strike: WBE Note Sparks Backlash

A service note sent last week to schools run by Wallonie-Bruxelles Enseignement (WBE), the official school network of Belgium’s Wallonia-Brussels Federation (FWB), has ignited a sharp dispute with striking teachers, who see it as a veiled attack on the right to strike. The document, signed by WBE administrator-general André Grenier, restates the rules governing pickets, pupil attendance and the obligation to allow non-striking colleagues into schools, according to RTBF.

Teachers say the note misstates the law on peaceful pickets, deepening a confrontation that has disrupted French-speaking Belgian schools since the summer. Grenier insists it is merely “a reminder of the rules,” delivered with “great benevolence.”

What the Note Says

According to RTBF, the note reminds recipients that non-striking colleagues cannot be prevented from entering an establishment, that pupils are required to attend classes, and that pickets cannot be blocking. It also states teachers may inform pupils but must not incite them to avoid school. Repeatedly, the document asserts that the right to strike is not being questioned.

One striking teacher rejected that framing outright. “It said it was forbidden to block the school, implying that anyone at the school entrance who prevents colleagues from entering is breaking the rules. That is not true at all,” the teacher told RTBF. “We have the right to be at the school entrance, to engage in dialogue, and so it is perfectly legal. In fact, it is part of the right to strike.”

The teacher described an emotional reaction among staff. “Some even cried on receiving this letter because they felt trapped in a vise. We felt it more as a desire to break the strike movement.”

Grenier stood by the document. “It is a reminder of everyone’s rights and it is said with great benevolence so that everything goes as well as possible,” he said, dismissing suggestions of pressure as a “procès d’intention” — an imputation of bad motives.

A Movement Months in the Making

The controversy is the latest flashpoint in a strike movement that has simmered for much of 2026 against austerity measures adopted by the FWB’s MR-Les Engages government. Education accounts for roughly 70% of the FWB’s budget, and the federation has faced a structural deficit of about €1.6 billion a year, with the government targeting €500 million in savings over four years.

On the night of 4-5 June, after a 14-hour debate, the FWB parliament definitively adopted the so-called décret-programme containing the education savings, as La Libre reported. The most contested measure raises upper-secondary teachers’ face-to-face teaching load by 10% — from 20 to 22 periods a week — without salary compensation. Other measures include a less generous sick-leave regime, tighter end-of-career arrangements, higher enrolment fees and cuts to free school supplies and meals.

Unions announced in late June that actions would resume at the start of the school year unless ministers backtracked, RTBF reported. A joint-union strike notice covered actions from 17 August to 27 September.

A Tense Rentrée

As Le Vif reported, the school year reopened on 24 August with “intact” anger and new actions already scheduled. Days later, strike movements resumed in schools.

On 10 September, a major joint-front demonstration brought thousands into the streets of Liège. QU4TRE put attendance at 10,000 according to police and 15,000 according to unions, with teachers, students and parents marching from the Guillemins esplanade to place Saint-Lambert. “The teachers’ anger is not weakening,” one participant said, criticising Education Minister Valérie Glatigny for not listening enough to difficulties in schools.

The September service note followed shortly after, and it echoed a similar episode earlier in the year. As La DH / Les Sports+ reported, WBE instructed its schools in late May not to relay union publications and to observe “absolute neutrality” — while likewise stating that the right to strike was not in question. That pattern helps explain why teachers read the new note with suspicion.

Analysis: A Battle Over the Rules

At its core, the dispute is less about the wording of a single document than about who defines the boundaries of legitimate protest. The government frames the savings as unavoidable given the FWB’s deficit, arguing there will be no outright job losses, only reassignments. Unions counter that the measures are “unacceptable” and “dogmatic,” and demand their withdrawal and a return to genuine social dialogue.

The note’s insistence that the right to strike is untouched sits awkwardly beside its emphasis on pickets not being “blocking.” In labour practice, a peacefully manned picket at a school gate is a conventional expression of the right to strike; teachers argue the note blurs that distinction. By restating employer rules mid-conflict — and after a similar neutrality directive in May — WBE risks reinforcing the very perception of pressure it denies.

The dispute is also entangled with a parliamentary legitimacy row. Opposition parties and unions criticised the accelerated June vote on the programme decree as irregular and called for the resignation of FWB parliament president Benoît Dispa, raising the political temperature around an already polarised social conflict.

What to Watch

The joint-union strike notice runs until 27 September, so further disruptions to French-speaking schools are likely in the coming weeks. The key questions are whether the government opens fresh talks with unions, whether any union challenges the WBE note on legal grounds, and whether the confrontation hardens or eases as the school term deepens. For now, both sides appear dug in — the government defending its budget arithmetic, and teachers insisting that the fight is as much about respect and the right to organise as it is about hours and pay.