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In a meeting with the unions on Friday, Aldi confirmed that it wants to open all its stores in Belgium on Sunday mornings as soon as possible. But an agreement on this still seems a long way off.
Under pressure
Aldi reportedly wants to open all stores on Sundays from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Employees would be able to work on Sundays voluntarily in exchange for a financial bonus or extra time off. The stores will remain closed on legal holidays. The unions reported this to the Belga news agency following a meeting with the retailer on Friday.
The discount retailer is under pressure due to the widespread Sunday openings by competitors such as Delhaize, Albert Heijn, Carrefour, Intermarché, and Jumbo. In the first eight months of this year, revenue in Belgium fell by 1.2%, while market share dropped by 0.4 percentage points in the first seven months.
“It’s true that we held talks today with our social partners. Aldi provided further clarification regarding Sunday openings. We are pleased that these discussions were constructive, ” says spokesperson Jason Sevestre. However, according to Koen Vanschoubroeck of the ACV Puls union, the divide between the social partners on the issue of Sunday openings is “still very deep.” There were no real negotiations on Friday. The next round of talks is scheduled for October 28.
