Liesbeth Kaashoek, the Dutch logistics director of PostNL, calls the actions of the Belgian court, which on Monday sealed two depots of the Dutch parcel company and three employees, including Belgian CEO Rudy Van Rillaer, ‘unjust’ and ‘disproportionate’. has picked up.
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“I think it’s idiotic what is happening now,” says Kaashoek in a conversation with The standard† ‘Three of our people, including the general manager of Belgium, have already spent two nights in a cell. They share it with four others, don’t get clean clothes and eat only once a day. This has a huge impact on them, their families and all employees. We are treated like criminals, even though we are a neat, publicly traded company. We want them to be released as soon as possible.”
They are suspected of, among other things, human trafficking, forgery and leading a criminal organization. That’s not less.
‘We are still in the dark, because PostNL has not yet received any confirmation from the official authorities. Only their lawyer and families are allowed to have sporadic contact with them. The investigating judge would not have time until Monday. That state of affairs raises questions anyway.’
‘But I do expressly distance myself from the picture that is now being painted. We don’t recognize ourselves in that at all. That’s not our way of working.’
You said earlier ‘don’t turn a deaf ear to the signals’. But new violations are found at just about every audit. How is that possible?
‘After the closures in November, we made clear agreements with the labor prosecutor. At his request, we check the identity of everyone who enters the depots, as well as compliance with social legislation. This is how we check whether the couriers have completed their Dimona declaration (an electronic message about the start of working hours to the RSZ, ed.) have done.’
‘We report this to the social inspectorate, and we have not yet come across any major, structural abuses. At most minor incidents, such as someone who has forgotten his identity card. In an interview, the labor prosecutor also indicated that he was satisfied with the steps that had been taken. That’s why we were surprised about Monday’s actions.’
According to inspection services, the infringements are mainly found at parcel companies that outsource their delivery to subcontractors. Why do you work that way?
‘It has grown that way historically. When we arrived in Belgium, we called on local transport companies that know the country and the market well. They have continued to grow with us. It is also a very common way of working in the sector.’
Bpost does work with permanent contracts. By working with subcontractors, you have to pay less social security contributions and that would lead to unfair competition.
‘In that respect it is good to realize that 75 percent of the deliverers are permanently employed by those subcontractors, and they are paid according to the joint committee.’
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