EAT pilots and ground personnel are striking together for their rights
Deutsche Post DHL announced the close of its daughter company EAT in Brussels by the end of the year. 400 people will be affected. Only a basic administrative service with 40 employees should remain in Brussels. 90% of the current employees will be dismissed or should work under German contracts. The company has been in negotiations for some weeks now with the Belgian Trade Unions but is not prepared to offer more than the minimum, despite the fact that there is a collective agreement between the company and the Union, which gives employees the right to benefit by a negotiated social plan.
Not only the pilots, but also the ground personnel, mechanics and workers in the DHL EHQ are affected from these de-location and closure measures. The Trade Unions are now working together in solidarity with all levels of workers in all locations to force the management to agree on better conditions and financial payments. The workers are jointly in strike to avoid any splitting into groups, which would weaken their position. Till now, the negotiations are still in process. The continuation of the strike and more actions are planned and announced for next week.
The company tries to transfer operations from Brussels to Leipzig. The next step from Union side will be to inform the colleagues in Germany to support the actions in Belgium. First contacts are already made with the German colleagues and common measures are planned. The Belgian pilots hope to raise the pressure on the management with this and push them to agree on their demands. The creation of support and solidarity on European and global level in all DHL locations and divisions is necessary to avoid this behaviour of the company in the future also in other countries.
UNI europa and ETFe are alerting everyone in the Aviation Hubs Network working for DHL to this situation and in accordance with your national legislation we ask you not to handle any goods transferred to your hub from Brussels.
UNI europa and ETF support all taken and planned actions by the Belgian Trade Unions totally and will provide them any possible help in their work to reach the best for the workers. Solidarity notes are welcome and will be forwarded to the Belgian Trade Unions and the workers of EAT and DHL.