From the Golden Sixties to 2010: half a century of deindustrialisation and labour disputes in Brussels

The article covers almost half a century of strikes which took place in industrial companies in Brussels, beginning with the major strike in the winter of 1960‑61 until 2010. The selection of these labour disputes was based either on certain characteristics of the disputes, such as their harshness a...

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Main Author: Jean Vandewattyne
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Université libre de Bruxelles - ULB 2015-11-01
Series:Brussels Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/1315
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author Jean Vandewattyne
author_facet Jean Vandewattyne
author_sort Jean Vandewattyne
collection DOAJ
description The article covers almost half a century of strikes which took place in industrial companies in Brussels, beginning with the major strike in the winter of 1960‑61 until 2010. The selection of these labour disputes was based either on certain characteristics of the disputes, such as their harshness and symbolic character, or on their emblematic character with respect to the Brussels economic reality of the company concerned. The article focuses in particular on two major periods. The first period corresponds to the end of the post-war economic boom and was marked by some hard, long and offensive strikes regarding working conditions. In particular, they brought to the fore the question of the position of “foreign” workers in work organisations as well as in the world of trade unions. The second period covers the beginning of the 1980s until 2010, and had the economic crisis, unemployment and new managerial policies as a backdrop. The disputes were defensive, with the negotiation of social plans related to restructuring and the shutting down of sites as their main issue. The question of the respect of union rights was also a reason for the disputes.
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spelling doaj-art-49cb1e97ce6449f5b51ec9b2ad649cff2025-08-02T07:07:02ZengUniversité libre de Bruxelles - ULBBrussels Studies2031-02932015-11-0110.4000/brussels.1315From the Golden Sixties to 2010: half a century of deindustrialisation and labour disputes in BrusselsJean VandewattyneThe article covers almost half a century of strikes which took place in industrial companies in Brussels, beginning with the major strike in the winter of 1960‑61 until 2010. The selection of these labour disputes was based either on certain characteristics of the disputes, such as their harshness and symbolic character, or on their emblematic character with respect to the Brussels economic reality of the company concerned. The article focuses in particular on two major periods. The first period corresponds to the end of the post-war economic boom and was marked by some hard, long and offensive strikes regarding working conditions. In particular, they brought to the fore the question of the position of “foreign” workers in work organisations as well as in the world of trade unions. The second period covers the beginning of the 1980s until 2010, and had the economic crisis, unemployment and new managerial policies as a backdrop. The disputes were defensive, with the negotiation of social plans related to restructuring and the shutting down of sites as their main issue. The question of the respect of union rights was also a reason for the disputes.http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/1315economyunemploymentemploymentemployment policieshistoryjob market
spellingShingle Jean Vandewattyne
From the Golden Sixties to 2010: half a century of deindustrialisation and labour disputes in Brussels
Brussels Studies
economy
unemployment
employment
employment policies
history
job market
title From the Golden Sixties to 2010: half a century of deindustrialisation and labour disputes in Brussels
title_full From the Golden Sixties to 2010: half a century of deindustrialisation and labour disputes in Brussels
title_fullStr From the Golden Sixties to 2010: half a century of deindustrialisation and labour disputes in Brussels
title_full_unstemmed From the Golden Sixties to 2010: half a century of deindustrialisation and labour disputes in Brussels
title_short From the Golden Sixties to 2010: half a century of deindustrialisation and labour disputes in Brussels
title_sort from the golden sixties to 2010 half a century of deindustrialisation and labour disputes in brussels
topic economy
unemployment
employment
employment policies
history
job market
url http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/1315
work_keys_str_mv AT jeanvandewattyne fromthegoldensixtiesto2010halfacenturyofdeindustrialisationandlabourdisputesinbrussels