Belgium: La Poste to cut 8,000 jobs at its mail division by 2005
Belgian postal services operator La Poste is to close two of its five sorting centres. According to the details of a new internal plan, the group’s Charleroi X and Liege X sorting offices will be replaced by a single installation to cover the Walloon region of Belgium. In Flanders, meanwhile, the group will transfer activities from its Ghent office to Anvers. The plan will be put to the group’s administrative board in December, and could lead to the loss of 198 jobs, according to figures put forward by La Poste.
The closure of two sorting centres could result in savings of 100m euros. The plan is part of a global modernisation and automation process, which should result in the loss of some 8,000 jobs at La Poste’s Mail division by 2005. The division currently employs a 28,000-strong workforce. A spokesman for La Poste comments: “These job cuts are not redundancies. Half of the losses will occur via natural wastage and re-classification procedures”.
