The collection rounds are organized depending on the available staff. However, according to spokesperson Carl Dufour, about 40 to 50 percent of the staff are on strike, which inevitably causes gaps in services.
Not all waste was collected on Thursday in Anderlecht, the City of Brussels, Ixelles, Vorst, Jette and Sint-Gillis. The situation is unclear for the time being regarding collections in the afternoon and evening.
Bruxelles-Propreté asks residents and traders whose bags have not been collected to collect the waste as much as possible until the next round.
There will be no disruption to emptying the bottle banks and collecting bulky waste.
Absenteeism
According to spokesperson Carl Dufour, a conflict over unallocated vacation days from 2023 is the basis of the conflict between management and unions. “Our agency has been struggling with increased absenteeism since the Covid period, which puts a lot of pressure on our operations. As a result, we are regularly unable to approve vacation days, because otherwise our collection rounds would be jeopardized.”
Unpaid vacation days further increase absenteeism, making it once again more difficult to allocate vacation days. “A vicious circle,” was heard in La DH last weekend.
According to Dufour, the unions now want to strengthen their position with the strike in the negotiations with management.
Compromise
Previously, as a compromise, the deadline for taking last year’s vacation days was extended from the end of April to the end of June. “We also actively have conversations with various employees who fall ill repeatedly and briefly without a sick note. Our operations have now stabilized again since last year’s major waste reform, which means that more time can be made available for holidays.”
According to Dufour, the recent attack on an employee in the Brabant district has nothing to do with the current strike. “There are also few or no employees in that region on strike.”
