The information was confirmed by the group’s spokesperson Hanne Poppe. Colruyt also pleads for a simplification of joint committees in the sector.
OKay Compact has 14 stores in Belgium. They are currently covered by joint committee (CP) 201 but will soon be transferred to CP 202. This provides for higher wages and better bonuses for early, late and weekend work. The opposite is happening at Delhaize: 128 integrated stores will come under PC 201 in the future if they are franchised.
Colruyt’s announcement is not a response to Delhaize’s strategy but is linked to the growth of OKay Compact. The chain’s fifteenth store will soon open its doors and the group’s strategy has always been to launch a new retail formula before transferring it to CP 202. “It was the same for OKay twenty years ago and for Bio Planet ten years ago,” the group explains.
Colruyt also calls for the simplification of joint commissions in the retail sector. “At the moment there are no less than five, for example for hypermarkets, for non-food…”, explains the spokesperson. Simplification might “prevent unfair competition between retailers, which would benefit both businesses and employees”.
Within the group, all Colruyt, OKay, Bio-Planet and CRU are under own management, which represents more than 440 stores. The group’s 215 Spar and 50 Alvo stores are operated by independents.
