A new consultation took place between the unions and management at bpost, but no agreement was reached on Wednesday. As a result, industrial action in the postal sorting centers in Wallonia (Liège X and Charleroi X) and in Brussels X may continue. The French-speaking unions at bpost have been taking action since Monday due to concerns about the distribution of newspapers. The government decided to stop working with a concession, which means publishers must now enter into contracts with postal companies directly. The unions are worried about the potential impact on employment and working conditions at bpost.
Bpost has proposed a phased transfer of newspaper volumes to its subsidiary AMP, which already handles supplying 4,000 points of sale across the country. A company spokesperson stated that this solution avoids a social shock and meets the needs of newspaper publishers. However, Stéphane Daussaint of the Christian union CSC-Transcom Postes stated, “We still reject this solution. There is no formal agreement to resume work. We have made some progress, but we need to get back to basics first.”
A new meeting between management and the unions is scheduled for Thursday, but the Christian and socialist unions believe it is unlikely that staff will resume work. In Brussels and Wallonia, the distribution of letters, parcels, and newspapers has been significantly disrupted since Monday, with no trade union actions occurring in Flanders.