Postal strike to disrupt mail deliveries in Brussels

A strike by postal workers at Bpost is expected to disrupt mail deliveries in the Belgian capital this week, reaching a peak on Wednesday.

The disruption is expected to affect the distribution of newspapers, letters and parcels in Brussels as French-speaking trade unions gradually ramp up their actions.

Unions CSC-Transcom and CGSP Poste say they expect actions to last for weeks, motivated mainly by the ongoing negotiations on newspaper distribution.

Bpost recently lost its government contract – and associated subsidies – to deliver newspapers. A transition period is currently in place to transfer responsibilities to a competitor, but Bpost said that if the deal goes through, job losses will be high.

As part of their protest actions, deliveries will be disrupted from Tuesday and sorting centres would are expected to be at a standstill on Wednesday.

Thierry Tasset of CGSP Posts expects post office staff to join the action as well.

“I have never seen the staff so motivated,” Tasset said. “Normally we have to prod the workers a bit, here it's us who follow them.”

Bpost said that while the announced disruption was regrettable, at the same time “social dialogue is now a priority”.

Flemish unions said last week that they did not want to take part in the actions for the time being and wanted to give the newspaper distribution negotiations every chance.

Unions and management are due to meet again on Wednesday, but unions are pessimistic about the possibility of progress.