Belgian Deputy Prime minister requests new preventive measures after PostNL arrests
Belgian Minister of Public Enterprises, Petra De Sutter, is ready to tackle abuses happening in the parcel sector with a new legislative proposal. Her initiative followed on Tuesday after arrests within PostNL Belgium.
The CEO of the mail, parcel and e-commerce corporation, Rudy Van Rillaer, and his number two - an Operations Manager, were jailed after a raid in three depots on Monday. A number of arrested employees were released earlier, but the two Belgian men remain suspected of human trafficking and leading a criminal organization. Both will appear before Counsil on Friday.
De Sutter, who’s not willing to comment on those arrests nor on the case, hopes to address the problems in the parcel sector with a preventive measure.
‘I want all postal companies in our country to comply with labor legislation and to deliver the parcels in a fair manner’, she explains. ‘This is possible, for example, by working with more permanent contracts. The fragmentation of the parcel sector in all kinds of small companies makes social control virtually impossible, which can lead to abuses’, claims De Sutter.
At the end of last year, PostNL was investigated for infringements, malpractice and fraud at their couriers, together with the British-owned logistics company GLS, based in Amsterdam.
© BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK - Minister of Civil Services and State-owned companies Petra De Sutter pictured during a plenary session of the Chamber at the Federal Parliament in Brussels, Thursday 27 January 2022.