Working on Delhaize Hankar to support strikers: ‘Go Shop Elsewhere’

Dozens of activists stand at Delhaize Hankar in Auderghem. They try to convince people not to shop at the supermarket, thus interrupting Delhaize.

Delhaize’s social strife has been going on for months. The supermarket chain announced in March that it would sell 128 stores to independent operators. Trade unions opposed this and took repeated action. Outside working groups are also calling for a boycott of Delhaize.

“This is our seventh measure,” a support committee member tells Delhaize employees who are currently on strike against the decision to franchise the stores. “Delhaize’s decision creates great pressure on working conditions and wages, so workers are on strike. But management has forced stores to reopen, so workers are asking customers, and we support them in that demand, to boycott until the dispute is over.”

The Delhaize Boondael Support Committee also visited today. “Both stores are among the first 15 that are expected to be franchised in the coming months,” Mattis explains. “Through these measures we want to convince customers to shop elsewhere. At the same time we want to make it clear to people who want to buy these stores that we will continue to boycott them.”