It’s still closed doors in the majority of Delhaize managed directly by the group, especially in the province of Liège. The staff does not want to hear regarding the franchise of 128 integrated stores.
On the side of Delhaize, 200 marks of interest have already been announced to take over these franchise stores. This is particularly the case for the group’s two flagship stores in the province of Liège, Delhaize in Sart Tilman and Heusy on the heights of Verviers.
Staff under pressure
In Heusy precisely, among the candidates, there might be the current director. He also made the announcement to his staff a few days ago. An announcement and also putting under pressure as explained by Julien Dejon, CNE union representative: “He first announced to his staff that they had to either take the boat running or get off the boat. He clearly told the staff clearly: ‘Per day of additional strike, I am cutting a job.’ For a trade unionist , it’s particularly scandalous. Inevitably, the staff is divided in social media where we read everything and anything. Are we going to keep our achievements, yes or no? Yes, we keep them but for six months, and following six months, the assets, the franchisee can delete them. And that, the staff says to themselves, our boss is nice, our manager is nice, he will leave us our assets, but that almost never happens.
Especially since becoming a franchisee can pay off, but it’s also expensive. It is indeed necessary to pay the franchise, in other words the commercial contract with Delhaize, to take over the goodwill, the rent, the personnel, the charges… For Heusy for example, it is a question of 6 to 8 million euros.
Contacted by us, the director in question specified that he might not express himself, that he had to respect a duty of discretion because he was still employed by Delhaize.
In supermarkets, the strike might continue at least until Tuesday, the day of the next works council.
