Big social tensions at Makro: two stores are on strike

A meeting between the unions and the management of Makro came to an end on Thursday morning. The management had convened an extraordinary works council but, denounces the common union front, there was no possible debate.

Makro is a retail chain that has been experiencing serious financial difficulties for years. Various business strategies have been implemented in an attempt to raise the bar, without success. Thursday, a new organization of the work and the structure of the six Makro stores remaining in Belgium was presented to the unions. The objective: to reduce costs.

“We were told that store workers will be asked for total versatility, that a new scheduling system (variable from week to week) will be put in place, that we will install self-scan checkouts and that part of the product assortment will be removed (magazines, books, newspapers, etc.) “, details the permanent CGSLB Stijn Vandercruysse.

This is not all since the management also wants to cut jobs, such as those of bakers and certain managerial positions in the stores, but without specifying the number.

This plan is presented this afternoon in the stores and the reactions were not long in coming since the staff of Makro de Machelen and Deurne disengaged. The Sint-Pieters-Leeuw store will keep its doors closed on Friday.

“The workers are well aware of Makro’s financial situation and they know that efforts must be made but not by forcing things on us, unilaterally, without the possibility for the trade unions to make counter-proposals”, soulful Stijn Vandercruysse.

In a leaflet sent Thursday afternoon, the common union front reported savings “entirely made on the backs of the staff”. “We demand that the plan proposed by the management be immediately adopted and that a social consultation take place”, write the trade unionists. “We told the management that it was not a way of doing things but we have the will to renew the dialogue”, concludes the permanent of the CGSLB.

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