Growth of unionisation in large retail centres

Up until now, employees have not organised themselves collectively in any of the large Lithuanian shopping centres such as ‘Iki’, ‘Rimi’ or ‘Maxima’. Despite reports of poor working conditions, trade unions had no power or means to influence the situation. However, in August 2007, cashiers of one particular shop went on a three-hour strike. This action attracted considerable attention, and signs of unionisation are now emerging among supermarket workers.

Although trade unions are not strong in Lithuania, they are nonetheless active to at least some extent in most sectors of economic activity. The only exception is the retail sector, and specifically, the largest shopping centres – Rimi, Iki and Maxima – where, according to certain individual sources, working conditions and wages are relatively poor.

Out of thousands of workers employed in these shopping centres, just a few employees belong to trade unions – despite frequent complaints about low wages or long working hours. According to the unions, such a situation is determined by the policy of the big shopping networks and the absence of leading salespeople. On the other hand, the largest shopping networks maintain that there is nothing to worry about, and that the personnel do not join trade unions because they are satisfied with their jobs or simply do not plan to keep such jobs for long.

Trade union view

According to the President of the Lithuanian Service Structure Trade Union (Lietuvos paslaugų sferos darbuotojų profesinė sąjunga, LPSDPS), Aleksandras Posochovas, shopping centre workers who apply to the trade union for consultations generally complain about their working hour schedules and excessive workload. Mr Posochovas stated:

They often work overtime; actual working hours and overtime work are not recorded. Shopping centres apply a system of fines, deducting various shortages from wages and imposing fines for misdoings. Additions to wages make up a part of wages paid to the workers, and these additions are very easy to lose.

Furthermore, Mr Posochovas noted that trade union representatives have tried to approach the largest shopping centres and urge their workers to join trade unions, but security officers there ‘tried to neutralise such visits and asked them to leave and not disturb workers’.

Views of management

On the other hand, the management of the shopping centres claim that workers have taken no steps to establish trade unions. The management consider that they look after their employees’ working conditions and take no particular measures to suppress worker initiatives towards collective representation. According to the management, trade unions are not founded in the retail sector because of its unfavourable position in the labour market: jobs in this sector are widely regarded as unattractive, and the workers frequently change job. Those who are dissatisfied with their working conditions would rather change employer than take industrial action.

Cashiers stop work

Nevertheless, on 10 August 2007, the cashiers of one Iki shop in the capital city of Vilnius took action against their employer: on Friday midday, all of the cashiers stopped working and left their workplace, bringing the shopping operations to a halt. As a result, customers were not served at this outlet for about three hours. The Iki management deny that this incident constituted a strike, because the cashiers arbitrarily terminated their work without any notice; no attempts were made to settle the dispute peacefully. According to the organisers of this action, the main reason for the work stoppage was the cutting of wages.

This industrial action on the part of the shopping centre’s workers sent ripples through the public – it not only attracted media attention but also that of parliament members and public organisations. In fact, this initiative by Iki workers is not the first attempt by salespeople to expose the problems of their employment and working conditions. In the spring of 2006, a protest erupted in one ‘Delano’ pizza parlour when waitresses, cooks and pizza bakers took action against the management of the restaurant outside of working hours.

Commentary

According to trade union representatives, the growth of unionisation is already apparent in some stores of the shopping networks; however, it is too early to speak of the establishment of a trade union in the largest shopping centres. Nonetheless, it seems likely that public debate on this issue will contribute to addressing the situation.

Inga Blažienė, Institute of Labour and Social Research