The management of the Mestdagh / Intermarché brand and the unions failed to find common ground on Thursday, following the extraordinary works council. The meeting, suspended several times, dug “the divide“between the management and the unions, lamented Evelyne Zabus, permanent CNE.
The changeover of 51 Mestdagh stores to a franchise system has been arousing strong social discontent for several weeks. The workers concerned are indeed asking the management for guarantees as to their working conditions following the takeover by the French group Intermarché.
The unions say to themselves “disappointed“of the little progress made during the last six works councils. They are calling for a phase of negotiation, and no longer of information, to emerge. “The dialogue seems broken“, Ms. Zabus told the Belga agency, adding that the management has “sunk in a monologue“which padlocks any possibility of discussion.”The ball is now in management’s court“, she added.