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Social dialogue regarding Sunday openings at Lidl Belgium has been postponed until October. This means that the chain’s stores may not be able to open on Sundays until 2027, according to the unions.
Discounters under pressure
Last Wednesday, new talks took place at Lidl between unions and management, but Sunday openings were not discussed at that meeting, the unions told the Belga news agency. “New talks are only scheduled for October 6,” says Kevin Kiggen of the Christian trade union. He believes that any introduction of Sunday openings will therefore not happen until 2027.
At the end of last year, Okay (Colruyt Group’s neighborhood store chain) and Carrefour had already reached an agreement with the unions: they have been opening their integrated stores on Sunday mornings since January. Franchise stores in Belgium have been open every Sunday for some time now. This increases the pressure on discounters.
Lidl initially plans to open about half of its stores on Sundays, with all stores opening eventually. Aldi has also indicated that it wants to negotiate Sunday openings, but formal talks have not yet begun. Colruyt does not consider Sunday openings profitable for its larger “Lowest Prices” stores.
