Bpost on strike in Brussels and Wallonia

The ongoing strike at the Belgian postal service Bpost, which began on Monday, has had a significant impact on its operations.

Almost no postal workers made their usual rounds delivering newspapers, letters or parcels in Brussels and Wallonia. In Flanders, service continued as usual.

All Bpost sorting and distribution centres in Wallonia were affected, said company spokesperson Laura Cerrada Crespo. In Brussels, distribution has come to a complete halt, although no sorting centres have been blocked.

Bpost management stresses that its "priority is social dialogue". Although the unions announced on Saturday that only distribution would be affected on Monday and sorting centres on Tuesday, that plan has changed, said Stéphane Daussaint, general manager of union CSC-Transcom Postes.

"Some of the distribution offices are located on the same site as the sorting centres and the staff of these offices decided on a total blockade," he said. 

As a result, Charleroi X and Liège X, two of the biggest sorting centres in Wallonia, are now blocked. By mid-morning, the union was unable to comment on the extent of the disruption expected on Tuesday.

^{A Bpost distribution centre in Antwerp © BELGA PHOTO JONAS ROOSENS}