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In March 1999, several strike notices were served in the Belgian Post Office. They appear to reflect workers' anxiety in the face of advancing deregulation in the postal sector, as well as worsening working conditions owing to staff shortages and increasing workloads.
A number of recent developments have highlighted the malaise which has apparently affected the Belgian Post Office workers for several years, especially in the light of the proposed deregulation of postal services planned for 2003. Two concerns have been highlighted: competition with private operators and chronic staff shortages with a growing workload. Furthermore, there is reportedly widespread physical fear felt by postal workers who have to work in disadvantaged districts and claim that they do not receive any support from their employer. The situation was highlighted recently when the Charleroi industrial tribunal ruled that the Post Office must pay compensation to the widow of a postal worker who committed suicide after being attacked for the seventh time. The tribunal's ruling attributed the employer with part of the blame for the insecurity experienced by postal workers who sometimes have to carry large sums of money for the payment of pensions. Following this particular tragedy, the Post Office has now set up a service to support agents who have been attacked.
In March 1999, the Christian Public Services Trade Union (Centrale Chrétienne des Services Publics/Christelijke Centrale van de Openbare Diensten, CCSP/CCOD) - affiliated to the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond/Confédération des Syndicats Chrétiens, ACV/CSC) - gave notice of a strike aimed at highlighting its worries about the future of jobs in the Post Office, in view of competition in international services and express mail. The CCSP/CCOD is asking the administrative council of the Post Office to adopt a clear strategy on the choice of investments and in the search for partners. The union has given a warning that it will demand the resignation of "incompetent" administrators.
Meanwhile, the Liège branch of the General Confederation of Public Services (Centrale Générale des Services Publics/Algemene Centrale der Openbare Diensten, CGSP/ACOD) - affiliated to the Belgian General Federation of Labour (Fédération Générale du Travail de Belgique/Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond, FGTB/ABVV) - announced a strike to protest against staff shortages. It claims that postal workers are no longer able to take the leave to which they are normally entitled at a time when, according to a collective agreement signed on 18 December 1997 by the other unions, the Post Office is cutting its workforce from 44,000 to 38,000 in the year 2000. Apart from natural wastage, workers are being offered part-time work or early retirement. However, at the same time, the Post Office is planning to recruit a few hundred new university graduate agents.