The strike by staff that work for the Belgian post office Bpost in the Brussels-Capital Region and Wallonia has been going on for around two weeks now. Postal workers downed tools in protest at plans for new delivery routes. So far negotiations have failed to reach an agreement to end the dispute with management at Bpost showing little willingness to compromise.
Negotiations broke down at the weekend with Bpost’s management showing no willingness to make any concessions to the unions’ demands. However, on Monday hope that a mutually acceptable compromise may be reached returned following a meeting between the federal minister responsible for state-owned companies Vanessa Matz (Francophone centrist) and the unions that represent Bpost staff.
Ms Matz says that she hopes that management and the unions will be able to reach an agreement that takes into account both the interests of Bpost and the concerns of its employees. Following a meeting between Ms Matz and Bpost’s CEO Chris Peeters, Mr Peeters said that he would personally intervene in the negotiations from Tuesday.
In the meantime, the strike continues. The main sorting offices in Liège, Charleroi and Brussels are all affected by the action. Hundreds of thousands of letters and parcels have been piling up since the start of the strike.