Just like yesterday, the disruption caused by the strike at postal services provider Bpost is mainly confined to the Brussels region today, Bpost says. In Brussels, the trade unions are continuing to block the distribution centres in Brussels-North and Schaarbeek. “Not a single lorry carrying post or parcels can get through,” says Bpost spokesperson Goedefroy. The third distribution centre in the region, in Anderlecht, is open, however.
Bpost staff are angry with the company’s plans to change working hours in order better to respond to the new realities of the parcel market. Due to the industrial dispute, which has been ongoing since the end of March, the delivery of hundreds of thousands of parcels and millions of letters has fallen behind, particularly in Wallonia and Brussels. ‘Where possible, we have already started clearing the backlogs,’ says Goedefroy.
The aim was to reach a final agreement on the Bpost transformation plan by the end of April, but so far, the talks have stalled. Meeting that deadline now seems an impossible task: no joint talks between management and the trade unions have taken place this week, and none are scheduled for today or tomorrow. However, talks are reportedly due to take place today between several trade unions and Chris Peeters, the CEO of Bnode, the group that owns Bpost.
Bpost recently deployed bailiffs to establish the presence of blockades at distribution centres and, where possible, to remove them.