Employees of Dutch distribution centers will strike Albert Heine, empty shelves threaten

In the distribution centers in Geldermalsen, Pijnacker and Zaandam, part-time workers are on strike tonight. Starting tomorrow morning at 7 am, all six Albert Heijn distribution centers will be laid off by people who work full time. The strike will continue at distribution centers in Geldermalsen, Bignacker, Tilburg and Zwolle until Wednesday. In the Zaandam, workers will strike until 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to the FNV.

Distribution center employees want more pay. “Albert Hagen thinks he has made a decent wage offer with a pay increase of 6.6 percent for one year,” says Soraya Fayez of trade union CNV. But this is very insignificant. The inflation rate last year was 10.6 percent. And employees got only 2.75 percent in 2022 ».

According to the director of CNV, it is remarkable that the part-time workers started the strike this evening. “In the past, Albert Hagen used part-time workers to catch the work of full-timers to go on strike. They were accused of breaking strikes. The fact that they are now the first to stop working shows that unity and solidarity among employees is a great thing.”

“You could say that all the alarm bells have gone off at Albert Heine after the recent brutal blows at Pijnacker and Tilburg,” said FNV Handel Director Shivania Siopaks. “With this, the distribution staff has already clearly shown how discontented they are and that they are willing to take further action. By not meeting them at all, Albert Hagen is now calling for new strikes.” Unions hope to make sense of potential empty shelves due to the strike.