Union protests at Colruyt as aggression by customers increases

Consumers are becoming ever more aggressive towards supermarket staff asking them to comply with Covid measures, unions at Belgian supermarket chain Colruyt say.

Aggression on the rise

The direct cause of these statements – and a symbolic action at the store in Sint-Truiden – is an incident in which a member of staff was attacked on the parking after an altercation in the store itself. As a customer refused to comply to a cashier’s directions, the latter was backed by a member of staff who was off duty and in the queue as well. The argument became physical as both exited the store.

Union ACV Puls says that this is just one example of the rising physical and verbal aggression in supermarkets, towards staff that is trying to persuade people to obey the measures that mean to stop the spread of Covid-19. “This happens every day: people do not follow the rules, we ask them to comply and are met with aggressive reactions. We are through with it!”, the union says.

The union will stage a symbolic action at the store, giving flowers to staff as a sign to support. It will also hand out flyers to customers in an attempt to make them aware of the problem, and also calls on management to respond. “Staff is scared to speak to customers”, secretary Frank Convents says, and he hopes Colruyt will make a clear gesture to show it has its staff’s back.