The drivers were informed via text message that their employer, KM Group, had gone bankrupt, leaving them without July’s salary. Unions say they also haven’t received the necessary paperwork to be able to access unemployment benefit.
Around 100 Belgian delivery drivers working for the KM Group, an Amazon subcontractor in the eastern municipality of Flémalle, have been collectively dismissed via WhatsApp.
The drivers were informed via text message that the company had gone bankrupt, leaving them without July’s salary. They also say they haven’t received the necessary forms to be able to apply for unemployment benefit.
“It’s been a month since I’ve had a salary. How do I manage with the bank loan at the end of each month and money to pay the loan? If there’s no income coming in, what do you do?” said one of the former KM Group employees, Michael Agirman.
“It’s difficult for us to find ourselves with nothing all of a sudden and we don’t know what to do,” said another former employee, Dejan Mohammed.
In a joint statement, the General Labour Federation of Belgium (FGTB) and Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (CSC) slammed the way the workers were sacked and the uncertain financial situation they had been left in.
“On 31 July, we were informed of the company’s bankruptcy via a WhatsApp message,” said UBT-FGTB Provincial Secretary Daniel Maratta. “There was no staff meeting or social dialogue – just a WhatsApp message.”
Unions say KM Group’s bankruptcy was filed after the US online retail giant Amazon refused to renegotiate the terms of the contract.
While KM Group should have immediately started bankruptcy proceedings in court, Maratta said the company’s balance sheet has still not been officially submitted.
He said the union had sent the dismissed workers to social welfare centres to apply for emergency aid but it remains unclear whether those applications can be processed as they haven’t been given the necessary C4 form.
The C4 contains important information about accrued holidays, holiday pay and taxes and social security payments made. It’s generally passed from the previous employer to the new one or in the case of a dismissal, given directly to the employee.
The FGTB-UBT said KM Group had confirmed it doesn’t have the funds available to pay the dismissed staff the wages they are owed.
“For the moment, we’re trying to get the employer to actually file the admission of bankruptcy so that we can do it collectively. Otherwise, the only problem we’ll have, or at least the only way out, is that the workers will have to go to court individually to try and recover their rights, and that will take a very long time,” said Ludovic Moussebois, the Head of the Belgian trade union, CSC Transcom.
Unions organised a demonstration on Thursday morning outside the Amazon depot in Flémalle which they hope will highlight their case and draw attention to working conditions in the delivery sector.
“We wanted to raise awareness among people who buy things on the Internet from Amazon and other places. It’s behind the Enter button, when they press, a motor, a whole machine is set up where workers sometimes work in unacceptable conditions,” said UBT-FGTB Provincial Secretary, Daniel Maratta.
KM Group and Amazon have been contacted by the Belgian press for comment.
