Unions end Lidl strike

An almost week-long strike at Lidl Belgium has ended: unions and management have agreed on measures to lower the workload. All stores have reopened today.

Series of measures

The end of the strike came after management made promises on a series of measures to lower the workload for employees, both on short turn and in the long run. Stores that face more sick leaves than the average, will get more support. Moreover, the “flying squad” that is sent to stores that face sudden staff shortages, is expanded from 140 to 223 employees and certain tasks will be removed from general staff’s duties, either through digitisation (price tags) or outsourcing (cleaning). Both parties also have agreed to measure how long certain tasks would take, over a two week period somewhere next year.

These concessions were deemed enough by the trade unions to end a six-day strike. “We have made the workers’ signal be heard as much as possible”, the socialist union BBTK told Belgian newspaper De Tijd. As a result, all Lidl stores will reopen again today.