The collective bargaining agreement for supermarket employees expires on 1 July. The unions will ask for a 14% wage increase, the supermarkets can get wet. “The timing is unfortunate, things are not going so well in the supermarket,” says retail and brand consultant Paul Moers good morning.
Moers calls the timing unfortunate and summarizes: Aldi is loss making, Albert Heijn is about 16% down in profits, Jumbo is having a tough time. Honesty compels him to say, however, that wages have not risen in line with inflation in recent years, “so I understand unions are just betting high at the moment.” The consultant points out that unions are currently in a position of power.
‘A closed supermarket really hurts right away’
Wage-price spiral
Never mind that Chairman Klaas Knot of De Nederlandsche Bank constantly warns against a wage-price spiral and says that 6 to 7% is the maximum the unions can ask. According to Moers, supermarkets will eventually pass costs on to the consumer. Moers refers to the precedent set by the resounding success that the FNV union has achieved in distribution centers. Wages there have increased by 10 percent, and the supermarket employees want it too.
Ache
The question is whether unions and supermarkets will exit before July 1st. Moers: ‘I think the supermarkets will do anything to tighten the purse strings, but the unions have now learned that there are possibilities to meet your demands.’ And therefore Moers does not rule out strikes, he himself is thinking of the so-called roulette strikes: first a strike in Albert Heijn, the next day in Jumbo. Closed supermarkets cost millions in turnover, ‘so it immediately hurts’.
Source: BNR
Andrew Dwight is an author and economy journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He has a deep understanding of financial markets and a passion for analyzing economic trends and news. With a talent for breaking down complex economic concepts into easily understandable terms, Andrew has become a respected voice in the field of economics journalism.
