Renewed industrial unrest at GB (Carrefour Belgium)

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March 2001 saw a strike at Belgium's largest retail group, less than a year after an earlier outbreak of industrial action. In the summer of 2000, the GIB chain was acquired by the French-based Carrefour, which has developed a commercial plan aimed at putting its Belgian subsidiary back on the road to profitability. It was aspects of this plan that led to the dispute in March, which was resolved at the end of the month by a draft agreement between management and trade unions. The deal includes new bonuses for staff.

The former GIB supermarket group, which became Carrefour Belgium after being taken over by the French-based multinational Carrefour in summer 2000, has faced renewed industrial action in March 2000, less than a year after a large-scale strike. On 20 May 2000, the 71 Super GB and 58 Maxi GB stores were closed due to strike action in a dispute related to the non-payment of a customary profit-share bonus (BE0006314N). On 17 March 2001, these same supermarkets, as well as the group's two Bigg's hypermarkets, again closed their doors due to a 24-hour strike. The management of Carrefour Belgium stated that the strike represented a loss of earnings of BEF 200 million.

Soon after acquiring GIB, Carrefour announced the implementation of a commercial plan that would result in investment of BEF 6.7 billion from 2001 (including, in particular, the modernisation of 100 points of sale). The objective of this plan was to return Carrefour Belgium to profit by the end of 2002 and, consequently, to bring an end to a series of three loss-making years (in 2000, Carrefour Belgium suffered a loss of around BEF 2 billion).

In parallel to the implementation of this commercial plan, Carrefour Belgium started negotiations with trade union representatives in early February 2001 in order to review certain personnel practices. The unions are united in a coalition formed by the Belgian Union of White-Collar Staff, Technicians and Managers (Syndicat des Employés, Techniciens et Cadres de Belgique/Bedienden, Technicien Kaders van België, SETCa/BBTK) affiliated to the Belgian General Federation of Labour (Fédération Générale du Travail de Belgique/Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond, FGTB/ABVV), the National Federation of White-Collar Workers (Centrale Nationale des Employés/Landelijke Bedienden Centrale, CNE/LBC) affiliated to the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (Confédération des Syndicats Chrétiens/Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond, CSC/ACV), and the Federation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium (Algemene Centrale der Liberale Vakbonden van België/Centrale Générale des Syndicaux Libéraux de Belgique, ACLVB/CGSLB). These negotiations very quickly arrived at four major stumbling blocks:

1. remuneration. Management wanted to delegate extra responsibilities to the department managers and to other people in key positions, which would involve a salary increase for this single category of staff (the rest of the workforce remains bound by a collective agreement that will expire at the end of 2001);

2. flexibility. The initial plan was aimed at generalising the opening times of certain activities (such as chilled products) from 05.00, instead of 06.00, or at extending them until 22.00. This would involve night working as, in the Belgian distribution sector, night work is considered as starting at 20.00 and ending at 06.00 the next day;

3. trade union activities. Management wanted to put an end to certain practices that it considered abusive on the part of union delegates, by clarifying the internal rules; and

4. job security. The unions were seeking commitments from management on maintaining jobs (through redeployment measures in the event of shop closures).

Following the strike on 17 March, Carrefour Belgium management and the unions, under the leadership of the chair of the sectoral joint committee for department stores, were able to agree on a draft agreement resolving all of the points mentioned above on 28 March. After approval by union members (the union membership rate at the company is more than 90%), the deal was due to be formalised at the end of April in a collective agreement. On the four key points of difference, the draft agreement makes the following provisions:

1. on remuneration, it stipulates the award of a new bonus to all 16,000 employees, linked to the growth of company turnover. This "progression" bonus has been added to the bonus agreed previously in order to resolve the May 2000 dispute. For 2001, these two bonuses should total some BEF 11,000 gross. The heads of departments and those in key positions will receive the increase initially promised by management. This category of staff could be subject to a working regime requiring them to work up to 12 hours per day and 50 hours per week (in return for financial compensation or time off in lieu);

2. with regard to night work, it is planned to introduce, as an experiment and on a voluntary basis, a working regime from 05.00 to 22.00 in 15 hypermarkets (out of a total of 60). Financial compensation has been determined. The system will be evaluated in February 2002;

3. advances were also made on the question of union activities, such as the right of union delegates to take part in meetings during working hours; and

4. on the job security issue, management has given an undertaking that people threatened by shop reorganisations will be found new positions in the same region as a priority.

During the dispute, observers often highlighted the confrontation of the French-based Carrefour with the industrial relations traditions of Belgium, marked in particular by a high rate of union membership (while it is only 10% at Carrefour France) and institutionalised consultation procedures. In an interview that appeared in the Belgian French-speaking newspaper, La Libre Belgique (on 21 March 2001), an official from the French General Confederation of Labour-Force ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail - Force ouvrière, CGT-FO), the majority union at Carrefour France, stated that: "because it is used to a good social dialogue in France, Carrefour has underestimated the industrial relations realities in its foreign subsidiaries (…) When Carrefour is required to move quickly to make its foreign operations profitable, it tends to place the priority on economics and neglects the social aspect. And then it hits problems." The lesson seems to have been quickly understood.