Unexpected announcement, strikes, blockages and battle of point of view: the Delhaize brand has been talked regarding a lot in recent days. The brand announced on March 7 that it wanted to franchise the 128 stores that are not yet franchised. The unions immediately took matters into their own hands, and the stores have been on strike ever since, with varying participation between stores in the north of the country and those in the south.
This Saturday, 103 integrated stores out of 128 remained closed, which the unions rejoice on the set of “It’s not every day on Sunday” on RTL TVI. However, during these strike days, some workers lose at least half of their wages. “We’ll last as long as it takes“, says Agnieszka, CNE delegate at Delhaize Mozart. “We are not going to let it go. Delhaize is the tip of the iceberg, tomorrow it’s all trade.“
« I’m using crude words, but that’s the reality. »
Union representative
The workers demand a real discussion, with the employers. “Let them finally sit around the table, like real bosses, and not puppets who don’t know how to manage their business“, continues the union representative. “I’m using crude words, but that’s the reality. They are financial managers who look at charts to say ‘Today is positive, today is negative, watch out for the stock market’, but who have no knowledge of the field.“
For the moment, around twenty stores are open, depending on the days of the strike, out of Delhaize’s 128 own stores. However, according to Pierre-Alexandre Billiet, economist, Delhaize Belgium has been in a complicated situation for several years. “We see that the entire sector is in difficulty“, specifies the expert. In particular because there are too many stores in Belgium, when one observes the figures per inhabitant. “There is a paradigm shift that is difficult to bear humanly, but we have already experienced this change with the advent of e-commerce, which has taken hold everywhere in neighboring countries. Today, there is a real question regarding the model of the future.“
