[olympiaworkers] Carrefour delivery drivers strike

Libcom.org Feb 18 2010

Supermarket giant Carrefour was faced with empty shelves in its stores
across Belgium on Wednesday after a strike by delivery drivers.

The drivers work for Supertransport, a subcontractor of Logistics Ternat
which runs the distribution centre that supplies Carrefour's supermarkets
and hypermarkets in Belgium. Carrefour is distancing itself from the
dispute claiming that it is an internal issue for the two companies to
resolve. There were empy shelves across the store with the company unable
to ensure that 34% of its products were in stock.

The workers are striking over two seperate grievances. The contract with
Carrefour expires in June and workers were seeking assurances about their
jobs. Workers took the action ahead of Carrefour's planned press
conference on the future of the depot on the 24th of February. Workers
succeeded in winning assurances that if the site were to be closed that
they would be transferred to one of the company's other depots.

The second grievance was over the firing of six dispatchers after the
introduction of a new computer system. According to a union spokesman the
company has promised that 'a solution will be found as soon as possible'
although it has given no concrete assurances about these workers' jobs.
The union CGSLB also won recognition for three of its members as union
delegates.