The week in brief: 9 March

The train drivers’ union ASTB, has issued a strike notice for 31 March and 1 April, in protest at what it calls the “incoherent premium system for train drivers”. The union also demands a review of salary levels. The union will hold a sit-in at Brussels South Station on 18 March, blocking tracks for 20 minutes three times between 13.00 and 16.00. If no progress is made in talks, the 48-hour strike will begin at 3.00 on 31 March.

The Brussels-Capital Region has approved a proposal to cut the number of collections of the white bag of household rubbish from twice to once a week. The plan has angered unions representing workers, who argue that the public will not conform. A petition against the cut has gathered more than 5,000 signatures. Laanan also promised the introduction of a new orange bag for organic waste, to be picked up once a week. Collections of the yellow bag for paper and the blue bag for PMD increase from twice a month to weekly.

A court in Antwerp has sentenced a man to 10 years in prison for the death of an 18-year-old woman in an exorcism ceremony in 2009. The parents of Layla Hachichi, who called on the services of the “faith healer” were each sentenced to five years suspended. An autopsy found the woman had died as a result of burns caused by a caustic substance such as drain cleaner used in the ceremony. Hachichi was apparently suffering from an eating disorder.

Colruyt has announced that shoppers will soon be able to pay using a smartphone app. The app, SEQR, is already in use in most stores in Antwerp province, as well as Dreamland, Dreambaby and online. The app is available for Apple, Android and Windows phones and needs to be linked to a bank account and PIN.

The choice of Zeebrugge as a major transhipment area for Russian liquid natural gas will strengthen the port’s international position, managing director Joachim Coens said. Last week Fluxys signed a 20-year contract with Yamal LNG in Russia for the use of its LNG terminal, which will make Zeebrugge a key link in the Northern European chain and double the amount of LNG passing through the port. The contract is worth €50 million a year to Fluxys.

The new car park planned for Brussels’ Marollen district will be located adjacent to the existing parking area in front of the Brusselse Haard blocks of flats behind the Brigittines cultural centre, Brussels City council has decided. The new car park replaces one planned for under the Vossenplein flea market, which was cancelled after a public protest. Meanwhile, opponents of three other planned new car parks in the city centre were due to protest at a council meeting as Flanders Today went to press.

A law introduced in 2007 to outlaw discrimination in the workplace has been used only once since being passed, the federal parliament’s social affairs committee heard. The law forbids discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnic origin and skin colour. The figure shows that discrimination in the workplace is not being challenged or punished in the courts, said committee chair Vincent Van Quickenborne, which he called a “big problem”.

Flanders’ compensation fund for forests is not working, forestry conservation organisation Bos+ has claimed. Any time a developer cuts down trees, it must either plant the same area of new trees elsewhere or pay into a fund. According to the organisation, Flanders still has a deficit of 1,300 hectares of forest compared to when the fund was set up and between 100 and 200 hectares disappear every year. Last year the fund had €9 million, enough for 35 hectares of new forest. But only 11 hectares were added because municipalities are not responding to calls for reforestation projects.

A house in Antwerp described as “an ode to the 19th-century city” has won this year’s Belgian Building award for residential buildings. The house in Haringrodestraat has a foundation of only 50 square metres and was renovated by Vermeiren De Coster architects. The award for a non-residential building went to the sports hall of the Royal Athenaeum in Brussels, which is integrated into its leafy surroundings. The international award went to Studio Associato Bernardo Secchi Paola Viganò of Milan, which was responsible for Park Spoor Noord and the new Theaterplein in Antwerp, as well as the cemetery and renovated Grote Markt in Kortrijk.

Businesses around Brussels Fish Market have welcomed the arrival of containers (pictured) that will shortly take over Pantsertroepensquare as the Brussels entry in the VTM programme Mijn Pop-uprestaurant! (My Pop-Up Restaurant). Brussels, which won last year’s contest with a pop-up located on Muntplein, will be joined by restaurants in Aalst, Antwerp, Hasselt and Ostend. The series begins on 17 March.

Photo courtesy VTM