Heat-related wildcat strike disrupts TEC buses in Mons and Centre

Updated: 16 August 2026, 10:00 CEST

TEC drivers launched a spontaneous strike in the Mons and Centre areas of Hainaut on Friday, 14 August, disrupting bus circulation during a spell of intense heat, according to La Dernière Heure. The available reporting confirms service disruption but does not establish how many journeys were cancelled, which depots were affected or when the network would return fully to normal.

The stoppage again exposes the difficult summer conditions aboard part of Hainaut’s bus fleet. In an official statement issued during an earlier heatwave on 23 June, TEC said only 29% of buses operated by its Hainaut business unit had air conditioning. The operator reported that passengers and drivers had suffered health incidents and temporarily suspended services outside Charleroi between 13:30 and 17:00 on affected days.

That earlier measure was imposed by management, while Friday’s disruption resulted from an unplanned labour action, according to La Dernière Heure. The distinction matters for passengers: a pre-announced timetable reduction allows journeys to be reorganised, whereas a spontaneous stoppage leaves less time to arrange alternatives. Travellers in Mons, the Centre region and surrounding municipalities should therefore check individual departures through TEC’s website or application rather than rely on the regular timetable.

The problem is structural as well as immediate. During a Walloon Parliament debate on 1 July, Mobility Minister François Desquesnes said Hainaut was the TEC area least well equipped with air-conditioned vehicles. He told parliament that about 2,700 buses serve roughly 150 million passenger journeys across Wallonia each year, including 1,850 vehicles owned by TEC. New buses are air-conditioned, he said, and the regional objective is to raise the proportion of air-conditioned vehicles to 72% by 2029 before moving towards full coverage.

TEC separately said that electric buses equipped with air conditioning are due to arrive at the Mons depot from 2027. That renewal does not resolve the immediate dispute over conditions inside older vehicles, but it provides the operator’s principal longer-term response.

For now, the practical issue is whether normal circulation has resumed across every affected line and whether talks have produced temporary heat protections for drivers. TEC had not published, in the sources reviewed, a detailed final assessment of Friday’s cancellations or a timetable for resolving the underlying workplace concerns.