BRUSSELS, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Strike action continued to disrupt services at Belgian postal operator bpost on Monday, with Wallonia and Brussels among the hardest-hit regions, as management, unions, and mediators prepared to resume negotiations on the company's transformation plan.
According to bpost, parcel processing is currently affected by union action. In Flanders, delays are possible, while in Wallonia and Brussels, parcels are blocked within the network and processing has been temporarily suspended. The company also noted that parcel tracking information may remain unchanged until operations resume.
Bpost, Belgium's partially privatized postal operator in which the federal government holds a majority stake, is undergoing a significant transformation aimed at prioritizing its parcel delivery business to counter the steady decline in traditional mail volumes. This strategy has led to intense negotiations and industrial action regarding changes to postal workers' schedules and operational roles.
Unions have been staging strike action against the plan for about three weeks. Although several rounds of negotiations have been held in recent weeks, no final agreement has been reached.
Last week, bpost management said an agreement had been reached on the transformation plan for mail and parcel distribution, but unions said that the proposal still needed to be discussed with staff.
