The bpost unions are calling for a 24-hour strike starting this Monday at 10:00 p.m., the postal company said on the social network Twitter. Mail delivery will therefore be disrupted on Tuesday and post offices could remain closed.
The call for a strike is nationwide, said a bpost spokeswoman, who could not, however, specify exactly the extent of the disruption. In several places in Wallonia (Awans, Binche), actions will already be started on Monday afternoon, according to her.
The bpost spokesperson adds that the strike call is linked to the transformation of the postal company into an international e-commerce company, a process that requires organizational change. This transformation was delayed by several CEO changes, she continues, but was accelerated with the appointment of Jos Donvil as CEO of bpost Belgium.
The national president of the SLFP Poste union, Luc Tegethoff, refers to the ongoing negotiations of collective labor agreements and to “reorganizations here and there”. These are also linked to Amazon’s decision to develop its own parcel delivery network, which means that the volume of parcels to be delivered by bpost has decreased “mainly in Wallonia and Brussels”, which could be synonymous with the disappearance of full-time equivalents “without dry layoffs”, however, explains the trade unionist.
The unions want to send a signal with their strike and increase the pressure to review the reorganization process, he adds. Negotiations would still be ongoing with Amazon, which would lead to a further increase in volumes. “We want to follow the direction but not at the cost of losing jobs,” warns Mr. Tegethoff.
The trade unionist expects the action to have consequences above all in Brussels and Wallonia.