Store workers, firefighters and teachers partake in a nationwide strike across Belgium against the extension of the retirement age, as proposed by new Prime Minister, Flemish conservative Bart De Wever. The strike has been called by the country’s two largest trade unions – the Christian CSC and socialist FGTB union – who are up in arms against the reform plans to abolish special pension schemes, and to align the retirement age for all civil servants with that of the private sector (currently 66). "There's a real sense of disconnect between the real lives of the country's citizens and workers, and the economic will of this government", says Pierre Adams, a firefighters' union representative. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES