New consultations between unions and Bpost management have not resolved anything. Strikes continue in the south of the country. The unions do not want anyone other than the postman to distribute the newspapers.
The consultation between unions and Bpost management will enter its third day on Thursday. Attempts to end the rotation strike in Wallonia failed. The major stumbling block remains the newspaper contract. The French-speaking unions reject Bpost’s plans to gradually have newspaper distribution done by its subsidiary AMP and no longer by the postman.
Bpost hopes to be able to offer more competitive prices to publishers. The French-speaking unions in particular do not like the idea of AMP distributing newspapers. They are threatening to stop the distribution of newspapers from July 1.
The shift from Bpost to AMP is a phased process, so that postmen will still be fully involved on July 1. AMP itself will engage subcontractors who in turn will have to hire people to do the distribution.
The Dutch-speaking unions can live with this scenario as long as there is no hard restructuring at Bpost. The excess postal staff should be let go naturally. The French-speaking unions are on a different line. For them, there can be no question of postmen being made redundant and more work being given to AMP and its subcontractors.
Bpost will consult with the unions again on Thursday about how to proceed. Even with the AMP model, publishers are still looking at higher distribution costs. In absolute figures, Flemish publishers are hit hardest. The newspaper market is larger than in the south of the country and the alternative subsidy per newspaper to be mailed is also lower.
