Belgian Post Employees Demand 5.0 Pct Pay Rise
The negotiations for a new collective labour agreement for the employees of Belgian postal company De Post/La Poste will begin on January 31, 2007 with the trade unions demanding at least 5.0 pct pay increase, Belgian daily De Standaard reported on January 29, 2007.
The pay talks will be central to the negotiations for the collective agreement for 2007 and 2008. The 5.0 pct pay rise was agreed by the social partners in the autumn and the trade unions are reluctant to fall below that. According to Marc De Mulder from trade union VSOA, when inflation is taken into count, the real increase will be just 1.0 pct.
The unions will further demand amendments to the company’s retirement scheme. Under the current collective labour agreement, the early retirement age was increased to 58 from 57.
In 2007, De Post/La Poste plans to close 277 postal offices and to open post counters instead, cutting 2,000 jobs.
De Post/La Poste booked a net profit of 83 mln euro (USD107.2 mln) on revenue of 1.1 bln euro (USD1.42 bln) in the first half of 2006. The company has not released full-year results yet.
www.standaard.be
Source: De Standaard
