Jumbo management and works councils hope to appease tempers at distribution centres with a 'general pardon'. Logistics employees who initially did not agree to Jumbo's employment conditions scheme (avr) will be paid the missed pay rise retroactively if they still support the avr.
The avr was created in 2017 after the supermarket chain and unions failed to agree on the new collective labour agreement. Jumbo then decided to bypass the unions and agree new terms of employment directly with the works councils.
Choice between avr or expired collective agreement
Jumbo Logistiek's around 3,000 permanent employees were given a choice between the new avr or the expired collective labour agreement. In the end, around 72 per cent of the total number of employees made a choice. Of these, 96 per cent said they wanted to be covered by the new avr from now on. Less than 4 per cent of employees chose to work under the CLA. The avr also applies to the 1,500 temporary workers who work in Jumbo's distribution centres.
The avr stipulates that the wage increase of the general supermarket collective labour agreement will be followed. This year, that is a 1.5 per cent increase. Employees who did not agree to the avr will not receive that wage increase.
General pardon
This has caused unrest on the shop floor. Meanwhile, 600 of the 3,000 employees ended their trust in the company's own works council (OR Supply Chain) and central works council (COR). Jumbo puts the blame on FNV. The union allegedly pressured staff to sign against the avr.
Jumbo is now instituting a general pardon scheme for staff who have not yet agreed to the employment conditions scheme. These employees, when they do agree, can claim the missed pay increases retrospectively until 26 February 2018.
'One-off opportunity'
With this, Jumbo seems to be taking a possible collective agreement off the table for good. "We hope that this step will put an end to the uncertainty," Ton van Veen, Jumbo's chief financial officer, told De Stentor. "In the avr, fine agreements were made that were also in the collective agreement. To put it mildly, the unions don't like the fact that their vehicle has been taken away, but we really tried earlier to reach an agreement at the negotiating table. We are already above average with the wages for our logistics staff and it is important to go for a healthy wage cost development."
According to Van Veen, the repayment of the general amnesty scheme will cost Jumbo a minimum of five tonnes and a maximum of 1 million euros. "But it is very much in our interest within the framework of being a good employer to give colleagues another one-off chance to have the avr apply to them," he said. The collective agreement will be frozen from 1 April and will not come back for the first four years.''
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