“Permanent stress”, “Mental Health”. The words used by union representatives care about the social context in Lidl. This Thursday, the intersyndice (CFDT, CGT, CFTC, FO) demands an unlimited strike in its 1,600 hexagonal stores, second social movement after a first strike in February and actions in certain stores last week.
Non -replaced employees, new performance objectives
The first discord refers to the working conditions of employees, which would have reached a critical threshold according to the intervala. “A matter of mental health,” said a union delegate by Ouvrière force. From the strike episode that had affected 250 stores in February, “the situation has not changed, or even worsened according to Sabine Pruvost.
This means the lack of human resources in stores.
The latter also explains that the performance objectives have increased even more when they were not achieved last year.
Around work on Sunday
A topic is particularly problematic: the question of work on Sundays and holidays. Unions want the work on Sundays to remain on the basis of the volunteer. However, this will become mandatory in all stores on June 1.
Lidl explains this decision for the competitive context that requires extending the opening to Sunday, as is the case in most supermarkets. For these openings, the distributor would have said they wanted to recruit, but currently all hiring would be frozen.
Therefore, it depends on employees to fill the holes. While on holidays, only three are not yet operated (May 1, Christmas and New Year). Lidl wanted to make employees work up to 10 vacations per year.
Many reasons why the unions ask employees to mobilize a few hours every weekend as of Thursday.
An absence of dialogue
This tense social situation began a little before Michel Biero’s departure, the former French boss who left a few months ago, and has deteriorated since January. While the interunion communicated in this Strike episode last week, management kept silent.
Even so, according to the unions, Lidl would be in a positive dynamic to return to growth with customers returning to the store, a strategy that begins to bear fruit, even if that means reducing staff costs. While unions want to alert the brand about difficulties, they realize that France, previously more independent, has no more decision -making power. Only Germany would be in charge.
Source: BFM TV
