A delegation of twenty employees from the Jumbo distribution centres are today handing over a petition Gea Kuiper, director HR at Jumbo. According to the employees, the workload has been running rampant for months. A new collective labour agreement should curb this.
The current collective agreement for Jumbo's distribution centres expires on 1 April. Jumbo does not want to negotiate the collective agreement with the unions until July. This is because by then the collective labour agreement for supermarkets and the collective labour agreement for AH Logistics will have been concluded. The employees call this "absurd". "The work pressure has been running out of control for months, this must be solved for the health and safety of the DC workers. And now," said Debbie van Leiden of FNV Handel. "For example, by agreeing in the collective agreement that all temporary workers who work in the DCs for nine months or more will be given permanent employment. The work is there and will only increase. More real, permanent jobs will ensure a structural reduction in the workload."
Around 3,000 employees work at Jumbo's distribution centres, 2,000 of them as temporary or agency workers. The petition presented to Kuiper has already been signed by 450 employees.
The employees would also demand more clarity about their jobs in the future. As Jumbo opens a new national DC in Nieuwegein in 2020, the distribution centre in Elst will close. The workers at this facility would demand that Jumbo removes uncertainty about their future. Hans Beekhuis, inbound goods employee and chairman of the FNV framework group at distribution centre Elst: "This can be done by already talking to the FNV about the consequences now. My colleagues want agreements on training, outplacement and moving with them to Nieuwegein, among other things."
Update: Jumbo has responded to the petition. In a statement, the supermarket chain writes the following: "Jumbo calls on the trade unions to resume talks on a new collective agreement for logistics employees soon. After all, constructive consultation is a basic condition for arriving at a future-proof collective agreement that is good for Jumbo and its employees. Besides agreements on wage development, Jumbo also wants to reach agreement in a new CBA on important issues such as the retention of permanent jobs and investment in extra training and programmes aimed at the health and sustainable employability of employees. Jumbo believes it is important to remain in talks with the trade unions on these and other points. It is incomprehensible to Jumbo why the unions are not willing to do this."
Editorial LogistiekProfs
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