BX1 staff return to work but consider further strikes

Staff at Brussels' French-language local television channel BX1 have returned to work after a second one-day strike in three months.

The strike was approved at the end of August with workers citing "vague responses from the management to the urgent demands and needs they have expressed on multiple occasions".

"Staff remain subject to unfair cost-cutting measures, which are having a severe impact on their working conditions, with no prospect of improvement," workers said in a statement.

“The BX1 management continues to ask us to wait. We refuse to do so. This strike demonstrates our determination to ensure a peaceful working environment and a high-quality public service, in the interests of the people of Brussels.”

While the demands of the Brussels media group’s employees go unmet, concerns are growing, said union secretary Sihame Fattah.

According to Fattah, the station’s directors are sticking to their position of first awaiting the advice of their solicitor, a stance which the staff reject.

The employees’ demands, which were already formulated at the beginning of July, include the permanent removal of director-general Marc De Haan, an urgent replacement for him, greater transparency in the management committee and clear information about the company's financial situation.

Workers are also calling for an assessment of psychosocial risks and greater involvement of staff representatives in management. Additional demands will be submitted to the board of directors this week.

Martine Barbé, chair of the board of directors, said staff had already received a concrete proposal after the last meeting on 25 August.

“We opened the social dialogue with the suggestion to structure the staff around a trade union delegation,” she said.

“For other demands, we are contractually obliged to first seek additional legal advice from the subsidising authorities. That is why we have urgently launched a public tender to appoint a solicitor to handle this case. As soon as that advice is available, we will respond to the staff as quickly as possible.”

The board of directors said it understood the staff's concerns about the future of BX1, but at the same time regrets the strike.

According to Fattah, if nothing changes, the possibility of a third day of strike action cannot be ruled out.