Today, from 9:30 am, the third works council will take place at Delhaize since the management announced plans to privatize the 128 stores under its own management. The unions hope that after the tensions that ran high at the previous two works councils and the parallel discussion in which both parties stuck to their positions, there will now be an opening for real negotiations. In the meantime, all Brussels shops remain closed under their own management.
“Let’s finally see what is possible on paper and what is not. What can be discussed and what not,” said Wilson Wellens of the liberal trade union ACLVB. According to Wellens, the Delhaize management “has not moved an inch yet. There is no room for negotiation, even if unions try to create it.”
Jan De Weghe of the socialist trade union BBTK and Hilde Verhelst of ACV Voeding en Diensten also hope for a “signal from the employer” and a “small opening for real negotiations” respectively.
According to the management, the wages and working conditions will be maintained for staff who switch to an independent operator, but the unions question this. We want “real negotiations,” says Wilson Wellens, ACLVB union secretary, ahead of the works council.
Social Mediator
According to the unions, the attitude of the management will also determine what happens next. “If the management’s attitude remains the same, people will become even more angry and actions will certainly follow,” says Verhelst.
If the negotiations remain in the doldrums, there is a possibility that a social mediator will be sent out. But “sooner or later the parties involved will have to sit around the table”, the unions conclude.
Brussels Supermarkets Remain Closed
Meanwhile, the strikes continue.
Today, for the third works council since the announcement of the plans, many employees again came to Zellik, where Delhaize has a large distribution center, among other things. According to the police on the spot, there are already at least 500 to 600 people present. The three union colors are represented.
More than half of the stores under own management (64 of the 128 stores) will remain closed today, Delhaize spokesman Roel Dekelver said. In Brussels, all Delhaizes are closed under own management, in Wallonia only four are open. In Flanders, most shops are open, except for six.
According to Dekelver, there are no problems at the distribution centers on Tuesday morning.
This article is originally published on bruzz.be
