{"id":14256,"date":"2024-11-15T22:47:32","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T21:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?p=14256"},"modified":"2025-01-20T13:06:11","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T12:06:11","slug":"europe-wide-problems-and-national-protests-the-non-profit-sector-in-bad-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/14256\/europe-wide-problems-and-national-protests-the-non-profit-sector-in-bad-weather\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe-wide problems and national protests: the non-profit sector in bad weather"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the roads get closed off, people gather near the Brussels-North station in the Belgian capital. Within the hour, there will be a sea of green and red flowing through the streets. With this action, the Belgian non-profit sector hopes to draw the attention of the not-yet-formed government, before it\u2019s too late. For, without new policy and investments, these workers, mostly active in health- and care-branches, fear \u201ca serious crisis in the near future\u201d. \u00a0They are not the only ones: the non-profit sector in Europe is having a hard time in general, with funding and donations decreasing, staff shortages in many areas and rising work pressure, troubles are increasing and the dissatisfaction within the sector grows rapidly.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to look at the demographics,\u201d Olivier Remy from ACV Puls, a Belgian trade union partly responsible for the organization of this protest, explains. He is the one in charge of this day and can be seen running around the street trying to get everything in order before it is time to leave. \u201cThe Belgian population is getting older, which means the people working in the health and care sector are as well. Many will soon retire, while there are already staffing shortages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Remy predicts a crisis in these sectors, at least without proper action. \u201cTo prevent this, we need to have policy which better appreciates people in this sector, improve the wages and working conditions, decrease the overtime and increase the free days.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same can be heard on European level, according to Jan Willem Goudriaan, General Secretary of The European Federation of Public Services (ESPU). \u201cThis has been going on for years, but the sector is now really prepared for action.\u201d He points out the many recent protests, like the one in the Netherlands on November 12th<\/sup>, where pharmacy assistants put down their work to strike for better wages. Now, however, he is standing in the crowd in Brussels to pronounce his support.<\/p>\n[aesop_gallery id=”14306″]\n

As time advances and more people join the bustling crowd, the number of people agreeing with Remy and Goudriaan\u2019s words becomes apparent. T-shirts and scarves are handed out to the members of trade unions, but non-members also join in. The police has counted around 25.000 protesters, trade unions say there were 32.000 people attending. Whichever number is correct, the fact remains that this is an astonishingly large number of people, all chanting the same message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n[aesop_quote type=”pull” background=”#ffffff” text=”#000000″ width=”content” height=”50px” align=”left” size=”2″ quote=”"Cutbacks? No!"” parallax=”off” direction=”right” revealfx=”fromleft”]\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[aesop_quote type=”pull” background=”#ffffff” text=”#000000″ width=”content” height=”50px” align=”right” size=”2″ quote=”"Investments? Yes!"” parallax=”off” direction=”right” revealfx=”fromright”]\n

The crowd shouts back to the speakers as loud as it can. Anger is apparent, and according to Remy, it is not misplaced. \u201cBefore Covid, pressure on the sector was already gaining. The pandemic worsened the already existing problems in all countries, at least in the countries surrounding Belgium.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t