While the postal strike in Wallonia is entering its third day, the management and unions at Bpost are meeting again on Wednesday morning. The unions face a dilemma. If they refuse to shift newspaper jobs to the subsidiary AMP, layoffs are threatened.
‘No white smoke.’ So far the comments at Bpost about the consultation between management and the unions on Tuesday afternoon. Both group CEO Chris Peeters and CEO for Belgium Jos Donvil attended, together with the Dutch and French-speaking unions. “After two hours of discussions, the results are still far from sufficient to consider resuming work,” Stéphane Daussaint of the Christian trade union CSC said afterwards.
The management and the unions will meet again on Wednesday morning. The future of newspaper distribution and the associated jobs at the postal service are still on the table. These have been at stake since the government decided to no longer grant a concession for press distribution. The publishers now have to negotiate with the distributors themselves. That seems to work out favorably for Bpost. The postal company and the publishers are close to an agreement.
However, there is one important condition: newspaper distribution must gradually shift from Bpost to AMP, the subsidiary that already supplies gas stations and newsagents.
The essence
- The consultation between the Bpost management and the unions on Tuesday revealed ‘no white smoke’.
- The possible transfer of newspaper distribution to Bpost subsidiary AMP puts the unions in a dilemma: let go of the newspapers or face layoffs.
- The French-speaking unions continue their strike actions, their Dutch-speaking colleagues place their hope in the consultations, which will continue on Wednesday.
Both the publishers and Bpost are in favor of this transfer, according to an internal Bpost document that De Tijd was able to view. Labor costs are lower for AMP’s subcontractors, which can put pressure on distribution prices. The transfer to AMP makes it possible to ‘ensure a sustainable future’ for Bpost staff, the listed postal company says. ‘This way we can avoid terminating contracts of indefinite duration.’
Retraining to become a truck driver
In addition to a transition plan for the post offices – due to the loss of newspaper distribution – Bpost is counting on natural attrition and the termination of fixed-term contracts to absorb the consequences. ‘It is precisely because of the phasing of any transition that no layoffs are necessary. The employees’ work schedule will change. (…) In the long term and on a national scale, Bpost remains an employer that recruits employees.’ There will be no social plan for an early voluntary retirement.
The transfer to AMP makes it possible to ‘ensure a sustainable future’ for the staff.
Bpost in an internal document
Furthermore, the postal company says in the document that it has no plans to transfer other activities to AMP. An agreement is also being drawn up between Bpost and the publishers regarding the magazines, but the distribution of these appears to remain with the postal group itself. The company also wants AMP’s subcontractors to work with permanent staff and therefore not to employ self-employed persons or subcontractors.
Bpost now employs approximately 4,000 people for the distribution of newspapers and magazines. The postal workers who see their distribution job disappear can – depending on the needs of the office after the reorganization – ‘very likely’ be assigned other types of rounds. In addition, a switch to other activities is possible, such as becoming a truck driver in the logistics division. That option via the internal process already exists.
‘Mail delivery severely disrupted’
The requirement to work with AMP presents the unions with a difficult choice: lose jobs or give up newspaper distribution. In the latter case, they must take the management at its word that forced redundancies will then be avoided. This is certainly difficult for the French-speaking unions. In any case, they fear job loss. “What are those employees going to do in the two to three hours they now spend on the newspapers?” Moreover, there is a personal impact, they say. ‘These are a different type of jobs, with different hours and different conditions.’
On Wednesday, the Walloon sorting centers will stop work and the unions will make their case.
The unions did not want to wait for further consultation. On Monday they went on strike. At that time, hardly any mail was distributed in Wallonia. The strike continued on Tuesday. There were blockages at the large sorting centers X in Brussels, Charleroi and Liège and there was a strike at the transport department. Nevertheless, according to Bpost, 70 percent of the mail rounds in Wallonia were insured, while the French-speaking unions spoke of a ‘severely disrupted mail delivery’. On Wednesday, the Walloon sorting centers will stop work and the unions will make their case.
The Dutch-speaking unions are taking a more cautious stance for the time being. “We mainly place our hope in social dialogue,” says Geert Cools, general secretary at the socialist ACOD Post. ‘On Tuesday we submitted an initial proposal about how a possible transition between Bpost and AMP should proceed for us. But that is all very premature. I am not going to make any further statements about this as long as nothing has been signed between the publishers and Bpost, even though, as far as I understand, it only concerns full stops and commas.’
