Picnic does not have to abide by the collective labour agreement for supermarkets. This is the judge's verdict in the case that trade union FNV brought against Picnic.
The court in Amsterdam today disagreed with FNV's arguments. The union has been fighting for a year to introduce the supermarket collective labour agreement at Picnic. The online supermarket now applies this collective labour agreement only for certain employees at the head office, not for staff at the distribution centre.
Ten different bv's
According to the judge, Picnic does not have to change anything. The fast-growing supermarket has housed various business units in ten different BVs. As a result, activities such as delivery and order processing do not fall within the terms of the supermarket collective bargaining agreement, the court ruled.
FNV: 'Picnic is not a supermarket'
FNV is considering appealing the ruling. "For us, this is as clear as day: Picnic is a supermarket. The only difference with traditional supermarkets is that they only deliver and have no physical shops," FNV told the Parool. The union fears that this ruling sets the tone for other web supermarkets. If they want to avoid the supermarket collective labour agreement, all they have to do is place their staff in separate companies, the union says.
