GSK to Cut 1,217 Jobs in Belgium as Workers Block Sites

British pharmaceutical giant GSK announced on Wednesday 14 October 2026 that it intends to cut up to 1,217 jobs in Belgium, triggering an immediate strike and the blockade of its two main Walloon sites. According to RTBF, the cuts affect 735 managers and 482 white-collar employees, all on permanent contracts, and target the company’s vaccine manufacturing site at Wavre and its research and development campus at Rixensart in Walloon Brabant. Blue-collar workers are not affected at this stage.

The announcement was made at an extraordinary works council at Wavre that lasted less than an hour. It formally launches Belgium’s collective-redundancy procedure — the so-called “procédure Renault” — opening a negotiation phase that unions warn could stretch over up to two years.

Sites Blocked for at Least 24 Hours

By Thursday morning, workers had blocked both Wavre and Rixensart for a minimum of 24 hours, RTBF reported, allowing only a handful of staff on-site for safety reasons. Unions filed an open-ended strike notice across all recognised bodies and held two staff assemblies to brief employees. Setca delegate Anthony Morelli said workers “took the announcement very badly,” adding that the action could “go further if staff decide.”

“This restructuring is indecent,” Aurore Joly and Thomas Benoussaid of the CNE-CSC said, describing employees and managers as “in shock.” The unions noted that 878 jobs have been cut over three years and argued that not a single dismissal is justified while the company generates 2.4 billion euros in profit and pays 5.7 billion euros in dividends to shareholders.

“Once again, it’s the workers who will pay the price for the strategic choices of a multinational that generates billions,” said FGTB Chimie, whose principal delegate at GSK, Jamal Amraoui, called the scale of the cuts “huge” given a workforce of 8,300 to 8,400 in Belgium.

A Group Pivoting Away from Vaccines

The backdrop is a fundamental strategic shift at GSK. Under CEO Luke Miels, who took over in January 2026, the group aims to reach 53 billion euros in revenue by 2031 and deliver 2 billion euros in annual savings by 2029 through automation and simplification. As RTBF analysis explains, GSK is reallocating resources toward oncology and specialty medicines — asthma, cancer and immune therapies that already account for more than 40% of revenue — while vaccines, roughly 28% of revenue, have stagnated. Of 25 late-stage clinical trials planned by the end of 2026, more than half are in cancer and only one is in vaccines.

The shift is compounded by an erosion of the vaccine market. FGTB estimates production volumes have fallen by around 40% in five years, and post-pandemic smaller biotechnology firms have entered a field once dominated by a few large players. GSK also faces the expiry of the patent on its flagship HIV drug from 2028. In Germany, the group plans to close a vaccine production site in Dresden, cutting more than 640 jobs.

Unions also point to the pull of the United States, which accounts for more than half of GSK’s sales against roughly 23% for Europe. The group has committed to invest $30 billion in the United States over five years. “To keep selling there, you need a foothold,” Amraoui said. “We’re not naive.” GSK has not confirmed that its US commitments are a factor.

GSK insists its Belgian sites remain strategic. “There is absolutely no question of closing our sites in Belgium,” spokesperson Elisabeth Van Damme said, framing the changes as a way to “stay competitive in the future and guarantee the long-term future of our sites.” The group notes that more than half of its global vaccine production volume comes from Belgium and that it invests around 300 million euros a year in its Belgian operations.

Belgium’s Largest Private Employer Under Pressure

GSK is the largest private employer in Wallonia, and its Belgian footprint dates to 1945, when the R.I.T. research institute was founded at Genval. The Rixensart campus, home to one of GSK’s three largest global R&D centres, gave its vaccines the distinctive “-rix” suffix — Priorix, Rotarix, Shingrix, Infanrix among them. Wavre is one of the world’s largest vaccine production sites. As RTBF recounts, the Belgian operations grew through successive mergers — SmithKline-RIT in 1968, SmithKline Beecham in 1989, GlaxoSmithKline in 2000.

The cuts nonetheless follow a steady decline in Belgian headcount, down from 9,107 in 2023 to 8,234 by July 2026. GSK announced the closure of its Gembloux research centre in November 2025, affecting around 50 jobs, and six layoffs at Wavre in May 2026 drew union criticism over the absence of a social plan.

Belgian biopharma accounts for 15% of the country’s exports and roughly 45,000 jobs, nearly one in five of them at GSK. Sector federation essenscia has warned that “all indicators are no longer green,” and federal Economy Minister David Clarinval said in early September 2026 that the sector’s competitive position is “increasingly under pressure” from US and growing Chinese competition. The cuts land as the De Wever federal government seeks 10 billion euros in budget savings, with other layoffs announced the same week at the Port of Antwerp.

Political Fallout

The political reaction was immediate and cross-party. “Behind the figures and beyond the economic impact, we are facing a major human drama,” said Walloon Minister-President Adrien Dolimont and Walloon Employment Minister Pierre-Yves Jeholet, pledging to examine every available lever. Prime Minister Bart De Wever said the news “reminds us of the importance of strengthening Belgium’s competitiveness and preserving the anchoring of our pharmaceutical sector,” though union representatives left a meeting with him disappointed, saying he offered few concrete commitments.

The left-wing PTB has demanded that GSK repay public aid in the event of layoffs, citing union figures that the company received at least 481 million euros in public support and tax advantages in 2025 alone. “It’s a double injustice,” said PTB MP Sofie Merckx, arguing that in Belgium today “you can take public aid, fire people and shower shareholders with that money.” PTB MP Roberto D’Amico said he will request a parliamentary hearing of GSK Belgium’s management. PS president Paul Magnette called the cuts a “new earthquake for our economy,” while Ecolo co-president Gilles Vanden Burre said treating workers as an adjustment variable is “unacceptable.” Yvan Verougstraete of Les Engagés urged an interfederal task force and the mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund.

What’s Next

Attention now turns to the consultation phase, during which management and unions will negotiate weekly. GSK has committed to conducting the social dialogue “with seriousness, respect and transparency” and to examining ways to avoid or reduce the layoffs. Unions are sceptical, noting that recent government measures limiting unemployment benefits and ending early-retirement schemes will worsen conditions for those laid off. With the blockades continuing and strike notices open-ended, the dispute over one of Wallonia’s most important industrial employers is only beginning.