Talks between management and the trade unions at the supermarket chain Delhaize have once again failed to find an agreement. Tuesday’s talks were the last planned in the wake of Delhaize’s announcement three weeks ago that it plans to franchise out the 128 supermarkets that it currently runs in-house. It is now unclear what the next step will be. Meanwhile, around half of the 128 supermarkets remained closed on Tuesday as they have been for the past three weeks.
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Still no end in sight to dispute at supermarket chain Delhaize
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The meeting, an extraordinary Works Council meeting, got under way at 9:30am on Tuesday. The talks centre around the future of supermarket staff that currently work directly for Delhaize once the stores that they work at are franchised out. The talks broke up after around 2 hours with no conclusion having been reached.
The liberal trade union ACLVB’s Wilson Wellens told VRT News that “Nothing has been decided. They said that there is no room for negotiation. Management has said that they wish to resume normal meetings of the Works Council on 24 April and that they will simply implement the plan. Nothing is open to discussion for them”.
It is now unclear what the next step will be. The unions have said that they will consult their members about further action. Last week the Federal Minister for Work Pierre-Yves Dermagne (Francophone socialist) said that he would consider appointing an arbitrator if no progress was made in the negotiations. At lunchtime on Tuesday Mr Dermagne announced that an arbitrator will be appointed.
Half of stores remain closed
Members of the three trade unions that represent Delhaize staff once again went to the company’s headquarter in Zellik (Flemish Brabant) in numbers in order to put pressure on the supermarket chin’s management. Before the talks got underway, they said that they hoped for “a signal from the employer” and “an opening towards real negotiations”.
Meanwhile, the strike action that has close the majority of the supermarkets that Delhaize runs in-house for the past three weeks continues. Just over half of the 128 supermarkets remain closed. All the supermarket that Delhaize runs itself in Brussels remain strikebound.
In Wallonia, all put 4 of the supermarkets Delhaize run in-house are closed due to strike action. Meanwhile, in Flanders all but 6 of the supermarkets that Delhaize runs itself are open on Tuesday.