Dutch and Belgian trade unions will be holding a demonstration in Amsterdam on Tuesday (tomorrow) against the planned franchising of Delhaize supermarkets in Belgium, the joint trade union front ACV Puls/CNE, BBTK/Setca and ACLVB/CGSLB announced on Monday.
The issues at Delhaize began in March this year after management announced its intention to franchise 128 shops owned by the company. In the meantime, several stores have already reopened under this new form of management. For months, the unions have been campaigning against these plans, fearing a deterioration in staff pay and working conditions.
Now, a demonstration will take place on Tuesday outside an Albert Heijn shop – which, like Delhaize, is part of the Belgian-Dutch supermarket group Ahold Delhaize – in Amsterdam.
The action is being organised on the fringes of the UNI Europa Commerce Conference, organised by the Brussels-based international trade union confederation, starting tomorrow in the Dutch capital.
Belgian and Dutch trade unionists will be taking part in this symbolic action, which will be attended by around 50 people. The demonstrators intend to ask the multinational to hold talks with the Belgian trade unions, but Michiel Al of the Dutch FNV Handel union previously said that it seems that "Ahold does not care about Belgian workers at all."
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Due to Delhaize's franchising plans, nearly 10,000 workers at Delhaize are threatened with a short-term deterioration in working conditions. In terms of wages alone, this means a drop of €300 net per month in the long term.
"The employees will then no longer be automatically covered by this collective labour agreement, the entrepreneurs will determine the conditions of employment themselves or the employees will be covered by another collective labour agreement, which is significantly worse than their current one," said BBTK/SETCa chair Myriam Delmee.
Even though staff in Belgium have been resisting the proposed plans for months, management in the country does not want any consultation at all, stressed ACV Puls union secretary Kristel Van Damme. "The management continues to implement the plans without wanting to make a single concrete agreement with the unions. In the past, Delhaize was really an example of social consultation in Retail."
