Many Delhaize employees already took action last week. — © BELGA
Delhaize employees will gather at the Delhaize buildings in Zellik on Tuesday morning following the works council that will take place. The trade unions ACV Puls, BBTK and ACLVB have announced this. They already expect “hundreds” of employees to show up.
Jane EyckmansSource: BELGA
The management of Delhaize announced last Tuesday that it wants to privatize the 128 supermarkets under its own management. According to the company, about 9,000 people work there.
There is great dissatisfaction in the stores involved. Soon after the short special works council in Zellik, the staff of many stores spontaneously laid down their work. Even today, the vast majority of those stores still remain closed: 94 stores are not accessible, the other 34 own stores are, according to the management.
The unions therefore expect that many employees will show up on Tuesday morning at the Delhaize buildings in Zellik, where the social consultation takes place. “It’s already filling up in the morning. People come from all over the country,” says the ACLVB. According to ACV Puls, buses are being deployed from various provinces. The union expects several hundred employees from the stores. The same goes for BBTK, where the secretary speaks of 750 or more attendees.
ACV Puls, among others, asks that the plan for privatization be withdrawn. The Christian clerk’s union also emphasizes that there is uncertainty not only for the staff of the stores involved, but also for many other employees of the supermarket company. “You have the 9,000 employees from the 128 stores involved, but there are also a lot of employees in the support services, where jobs will be lost at some point following the plan,” says secretary Frank Convents.