Striking Bpost workers gradually return to work

Bpost employees are gradually returning to work as a final agreement between unions and management over revised working conditions is in sight.

Workers were striking over the postal company’s plan to implement changes to working hours which they said would negatively affect work-life balance.

Employees were especially unhappy with plans to start and end shifts later, and have shifts begin at varying times with little prior notice.

A provisional agreement presented at a meeting last week now stipulates that the majority of shifts will end at 17.00. Most postal workers will therefore start between 9.00 and 10.00, whereas before this was between 6.00 and 7.00.

“This is a concession, meaning most postal workers will still be able to collect their children from nursery or school,” said Bpost spokesperson Mathieu Goedefroy.

Employees will also be able to keep their regular rounds, and meal vouchers will be increased by €2.

An internal pool of volunteers to replace absent workers will be set up to avoid relying on subcontractors as much as possible. This will involve workers making themselves available to cover the non-fixed rounds.

Lastly, postal workers will always be informed a week in advance of the hours they are required to work the following week.

Negotiations will continue over the coming weeks with a view to reaching a final agreement by 30 April on the full implementation of the plan.

A further meeting on Monday evening has been described by unions as "a real step forward" but "not a major victory".

A revised proposal from management will be presented to staff on Tuesday at a series of general assemblies at affected Bpost regional sites.

"The atmosphere has changed," said CSC union representative Gregory Vandersmissen. "There are offices that had been completely blockaded for three weeks and which resumed work on Monday.

"I think things could indeed move very quickly and work could resume quite rapidly."

The postal service emphasised that the backlog accumulated over the past few weeks due to the strikes and blockades of distribution centres will be cleared as quickly as possible.

According to Goedefroy, this backlog involves “hundreds of thousands of letters and parcels”.

The majority of the conflict’s effects were limited to Wallonia and Brussels.