Picnic disagrees with the criticism of employees and FNV about working conditions at distribution centres. According to the union, the work pressure at Picnic is too high, is underpaid and working conditions are unsafe. "Nonsense," responds an astonished Michiel Muller.
The app-only supermarket came under fire in newspaper Trouw on Saturday. Trade union FNV stated in the newspaper that it had asked 100 (former) employees about working conditions at Picnic. As a result, the union came to harsh conclusions: "We understand how it is that Picnic can deliver for free. They pay too little pay, make people work very hard and do not invest in a safe working environment," said Marianne Jekkers of FNV.
Low wages and unsafe working conditions
At Picnic, staff receive 9.79 euros gross per hour. According to the union, this is less than at a regular supermarket. In addition, some staff were reportedly made unwell by the heat last summer. Due to crowds in the paths of the distribution centres, trolleys would regularly collide with each other. As a result, employees suffered hand bruises.
Picnic's distribution centre in Diemen
Picnic does not recognise picture painted
The online supermarket reacted with surprise to the coverage in Trouw. "As if we are a company where workers are exploited and succumb by the bushes. That is not the atmosphere at all," co-founder Michiel Muller told RTL Z.
'You earn too little don't you?'
The entrepreneur denounces the way FNV proceeded. He would rather have seen them go directly to the company. "Then they could have seen what the atmosphere is really like, but no doorbell was rung," he says. Instead, workers were addressed at bus stops outside distribution centres, Muller argues. "What do you think people say when asked: 'You don't earn enough huh, aren't you entitled to more'?"
Own employment conditions scheme
According to the entrepreneur, the supermarket collective labour agreement does not apply to distribution centres. "We now have our own excellent working conditions scheme. For example, people are entitled to fixed breaks, and we have a health and safety policy. Just this summer, we increased salaries by 2 per cent. We consult our employees regularly and take more and more people on contract."
On safety in the logistics centres, he says: "Safety has our daily attention. There have been three cases of people getting dizzy. This was not heat-related, but related to personal circumstances." That there have been hand bruises due to colliding trolleys, Muller does acknowledge, and the supermarket says it is in the process of developing better handles for the trolleys.
FNV: 'We're not just making this up'
Marianne Jekkers of the union calls FNV's reaction "lame". "Workers at Picnic came to us in the first place," she tells RTL Z. "Fine that you are a new company that wants to do it all sustainably, but according to the rules we all have. We hear workers who are underpaid, who are afraid of breaking fingers. We don't just make that up."
