Since the announcement, on March 7, of the future passage of Delhaize’s 128 integrated stores under the franchise model, concerns have been high among the ranks of the chain’s employees at the Lion. Immediately, many stores closed, and to date nearly half of integrated supermarkets have yet to reopen. A first works council was held a fortnight ago, but it only took a quarter of an hour for the social representatives to slam the door. Rebelote last week, where bosses and unions remained around the table for half an hour, engaging in a real dialogue of the deaf. For the direction, the passage in frankness is a necessity and it does not intend to go back. For the unions, this model is out of the question and offers too few guarantees for workers. They therefore demand that alternatives be studied. Two positions in total opposition therefore, and it is with the same intentions that the two parties will meet this Tuesday morning.
Tensions remain high and, barring an incredible but equally improbable reversal of the situation, this third works council will turn out as short as the first two. And if the social dialogue should remain at a standstill, the Federal Minister of Employment has announced that he will send a social mediator. “I have asked the mediator to be on stand-by since the beginning of this conflict so that he can get to work quickly if necessary,” Pierre-Yves Dermagne told parliament last week. “He has informal contact with both sides on a daily basis, almost hour after hour.”
Franchising, the only solution? “Things have changed since the 1960s, one out of two hypermarkets is not profitable”
For the moment Pierre-Yves Dermagne believes that there is still hope that the parties will reach an agreement without having recourse to the mediator. But in the ranks of the CD&V and the Open VLD, we are much less convinced and we would like the mediator to already enter the dance.
But what is happening in the retail sector? “The market is saturated, margins are shrinking and Delhaize is not an isolated case”
As a reminder, the franchise model is also criticized at Intermarché, where the passage of Carrefour by Mestdagh supermarkets into the fold of the Mousquetaires has already led to several strike actions as well. The unions believe that the trend towards franchising in the retail trade must end. Demanding equal pay for equal work, they plan a day of action on April 17, at the start of sectoral negotiations, which promise to be difficult.