The delivery of letters and parcels continues to be disrupted in Wallonia as a significant number of postal workers remain on strike in the region. Deliveries in the Flemish region of Limberg have also been disrupted as postal workers there join the strike action, said Bpost.
Staff are opposing a transformation plan in which postal workers' working hours shift from the morning to later in the day.
Bpost said that the shift is a key point in the transformation into a parcel delivery company. A day of negotiations on Wednesday yielded no results. Unions and management will meet again on Friday.
In Wallonia, nearly half of the postal workers are still on strike, said Bpost. The actions there have been ongoing since Monday. The sorting and distribution centres are full, and Bpost has already had to refuse parcels.
In Flanders, the disruption has been limited so far. On Wednesday, part of the staff in Ghent and Mechelen also went on strike, but those postal workers returned to work on Thursday. However, new actions began in Limburg and in Ronse, East Flanders.
In Limburg, part of the staff went on strike in Dilsen-Stokkem, Bilzen, Genk, Zonhoven, Hasselt, Wellen, Heusden-Zolder, Tessenderlo, and Overpelt. The protesting postal workers are gathering at the Hasselt distribution centre.
"It is clear that there will be an impact in Limburg. Not everyone will receive letters and parcels. We are doing everything we can to deliver as much as possible," said the Bpost spokesperson, Mathieu Goedefroy.
