At an extraordinary works council meeting held on March 7, Delhaize Group announced its firm intention to convert all its supermarkets in Belgium into franchises. These stores, which are currently under its own management, will become independent stores. And in Luxembourg?

Delhaize Group employs around 9,000 people in Belgium in 128 supermarkets – 9,000 employees who will soon be under new management. The employees are very worried about this situation. And with good reason, since this change will make Delhaize a retailer of its own brand, which, by pulverizing the company, will definitively eliminate union representation and collective bargaining within the company, with the consequences of a deterioration in the working conditions and salaries of workers, as well as the threat to their job security.

In Luxembourg, out of 58 “Delhaize” locations, there are currently about ten supermarkets, two “Proxy” stores and a multitude of already franchised establishments. Delhaize Luxembourg employs a total of about 690 people. The OGBL, which is represented in the Delhaize Luxembourg staff delegation, would first of all like to express its support to the employees concerned and the Belgian trade unions. A meeting will take place shortly between the OGBL’s Commerce Syndicate and the Belgian unions to discuss the group’s decision.

Furthermore, even if no official announcement has yet been made in this sense in Luxembourg, the OGBL fears that the model applied in Belgium will be reproduced in Luxembourg. That is why the OGBL has already contacted the management of Delhaize Luxembourg to start a dialogue.

Press release by the OGBL Trade Syndicate,
March 9, 2023