2023-09-20 08:57:37
The Chamber’s Mobility and Public Enterprises committee adopted on Tuesday at first reading the bill aimed at improving the working conditions of postal parcel deliverers carried by Postal Minister Petra De Sutter (Groen).
A second reading was requested by the N-VA, Vlaams Belang and the PTB. After this, the bill can be examined in plenary session.
“We are taking the initiative in the fight once morest the race to the bottom in the working conditions of parcel delivery workers. No more exhausted delivery drivers at the wheel who have to work endless hours,” declared the minister.
His bill is the fruit of 18 months of work. Several hearings were organized in the Chamber following various revelations concerning the working conditions suffered by these delivery workers. Work by minors was also observed. The bill then passed three times in the Council of Ministers.
The text provides, among other things, for a maximum driving time of 9 hours per day with an authorized excess of 10 hours twice a week. A total of 56 hours of driving per week and 90 hours over two consecutive weeks is also planned. The text also establishes a minimum wage.
The bill also provides for the obligation for all postal service providers, on the one hand, to notify themselves to the regulator, BIPT (Belgian Institute of Postal Services and Telecommunications), before the start of their activities and on the other hand, to communicate, every six months, a series of data on a regular basis to the BIPT.
The opposition is far from sharing the minister’s optimism. In the eyes of the PTB, the text, fiercely negotiated with the liberals within the majority, is too far behind its initial objectives, which were to impose quotas on employment contracts in companies in the sector. According to MP Maria Vindevoghel, it might even have perverse effects by increasing pressure on companies which employ staff under employment contracts.
1695203473
#Parcels #change #delivery #people
