50 Undeclared Workers Found at Belgian Newspaper Depot
Belgian labour inspectors have uncovered roughly 50 undeclared workers — about 30 of them without valid residence papers — at a newspaper distribution centre in Wommelgem, near Antwerp, and judicially sealed the site. The Antwerp labour auditorate confirmed the figures on Monday, 5 October, describing the operation as part of an ongoing investigation into the company PPP (Press, Periodicals, Publicity) and its subcontractors.
Context
The Saturday raid targeted a press depot that helps distribute newspapers for the country’s largest media groups. PPP handles roughly 30 percent of the Belgian newspaper delivery market, distributing titles for DPG Media (including Het Laatste Nieuws and De Morgen), Mediahuis (De Standaard, Het Nieuwsblad) and Mediafin, according to VRT NWS.
Key Developments
According to the auditorate, the inspection recorded 50 infringements: 30 people without papers and 20 other undeclared workers. Those found without documents lacked permission for legal residence longer than three months. No one was arrested or detained, and not everyone had yet been interviewed as of Monday morning.
“The investigation into PPP and the subcontractors continues to determine who is responsible for the infringements,” said Danaïs Fol, spokesperson for the Antwerp labour auditorate. She added that “about thirty of them moreover had no papers of legal residence of more than three months,” and that “no people were arrested or detained and not everyone has been interviewed yet.”
The discovery disrupted newspaper delivery across the region. Roughly one third of newspapers could not be delivered on Saturday, mainly in Antwerp city and along the A12 motorway corridor. PPP spokesperson Tom Vermeirsch told HLN that papers for areas such as Brasschaat and Kapellen had already left before the inspection, while those for Antwerp and its immediate surroundings depart last — and therefore bore the brunt of the disruption.
“Such controls are important to ensure everything is done correctly for our employees, only this happened on exactly our busiest day,” Vermeirsch said. “Even people who were found to have done nothing wrong and were ready to leave with their newspapers were no longer allowed to carry out their work. That caused economic damage.”
PPP said it had secured an alternative depot so that delivery could resume during the night of Sunday to Monday. “So there should be no further disruption,” Vermeirsch said, adding that the company is cooperating fully with the investigation.
Analysis
The raid lands at an awkward moment for PPP. The company has already been at the centre of a Belgian competition scandal over the newspaper-delivery market. In 2021, Bpost, PPP and the publishers of Het Laatste Nieuws, De Morgen, De Standaard and Het Nieuwsblad struck an illegal market-sharing agreement: PPP would take over the delivery of 70,000 newspaper volumes from Bpost, and in return would refrain from bidding for a government newspaper contract worth about €170 million a year.
The Belgian Competition Authority later found that PPP had never realistically been able to win that contract, since bidders needed a minimum annual turnover of €50 million, which the company did not have. As VRT NWS reported, PPP’s CEO Michel d’Alessandro admitted the company kept this internally “until the last minute” while maintaining the appearance of bidding. All parties were convicted by the competition authority: Mediahuis was fined €7.8 million, DPG Media €3.8 million and PPP over €300,000, while Bpost escaped a fine for cooperating with investigators.
Saturday’s inspection — a fresh check within that broader ongoing dossier — raises fresh questions about labour practices in a sector where major publishers outsource delivery to contractors and subcontractors. The case remains open, and the central accountability question of whether PPP, its subcontractors, or both bear legal responsibility has not yet been resolved.
What’s Next
The labour auditorate says its investigation is continuing, and the public prosecutor’s office is expected to provide official updates in the coming days or weeks. What remains unclear is how the workers without papers will be treated, who will ultimately be held responsible for the infringements, and whether the case will prompt wider scrutiny of subcontracted labour in Belgium’s newspaper distribution chain. For now, delivery is back underway from PPP’s alternative depot — but the fallout from the Wommelgem raid is only beginning.