The ongoing industrial action at bpost’s postal sorting centers in Liège X and Charleroi X, as well as Brussels X, has been prolonged due to a lack of agreement between the unions and management on Wednesday. This stems from concerns among the French-speaking unions about the distribution of newspapers following the government’s decision to no longer use a concession system. Instead, publishers are now required to contract directly with postal companies, which has led to fears about employment and working conditions at bpost.
Despite proposing a solution to transfer newspaper volumes gradually to its subsidiary AMP, which already handles supply for 4,000 points of sale nationwide, the unions remain opposed to it. Stéphane Daussaint of the Christian union CSC-Transcom Postes stated, “We have made some progress, but we need to address fundamental issues before resuming work.”
Another meeting between management and the unions is scheduled for Thursday; however, both the Christian and socialist unions believe it is unlikely that staff will return to work. In Brussels and Wallonia, letter and parcel delivery has been significantly disrupted since Monday due to the ongoing industrial action. Notably, there have been no trade union actions in Flanders. The situation continues to unfold as negotiations between the unions and management at bpost continue.