The social unrest at supermarket chain Delhaize continues after the management unveiled plans to franchise the 128 stores it still operates. A majority of stores had already been franchised. By Tuesday 94 of the 128 affected stores were still closed. Unions believe most of these can be kept shut at least till 19 March.
Closed shops mean a loss of earnings for the group, but that is partially compensated by not needing to pay striking staff. Unions concede they have embarked upon a marathon. Talks with the management on Tuesday are described as “no big success”. They were finished after a quarter of an hour.
Trades unionist Koen De Punder says protest actions after 19 March remain possible, though he concedes employees may have a hard time keeping this up as they are not paid when they strike. “We need to discuss matters with management. A new works council is planned for next Tuesday.
Loss of turnover at Delhaize is estimated at up to 75 million euros a week for every week stores are closed. Roel Gevaers, a transport economist, believes the group will have taken account of such losses when planning the restructuring. The impact on the larger company Ahold Delhaize is smaller. Ahold Delhaize is one of the biggest supermarket chains in the world with nearly 8,000 stores in ten nations and 414,000 employees.
“Belgium is only a small part of this enterprise” explains Gevaers. “Last year Ahold Delhaize had a global turnover of 87 billion euros including 2.5 billion profits. A couple of million euros turnover less in Belgium won’t make a big difference”.
Delhaizes stores that still face franchising