The hundreds of employees of De Bijenkorf in The Hague are no longer allowed to use the escalator or stairwell at the end of their working day. They must leave the building invisible to the customer via the goods lift, the management demands.
In the same Bijenkorf store where the first escalator in the Netherlands was installed in 1926, the novelty of yesteryear is now causing controversy. “Employees were always allowed to use the escalators or the stairwell,” says Linda Vermeulen, director of the BeeUnited/FNV union. to work.”
It leads to great annoyance. “The goods lift is located at the very back of the large building on the Grote Marktstraat in The Hague. As a result, it takes employees significantly more time to get out of the building,” says Vermeulen. The reports of irritated employees are therefore pouring in, she says. “It takes me fifteen minutes longer to go home, staff members say. Or: with 20 people in the freight elevator is not safe as far as corona is concerned.”
De Bijenkorf calls the escalator ban necessary because customers of the chic department store would be inconvenienced by employees ‘hastily leaving the building via the escalator at the end of their shift, when the store is still open’. The store has therefore asked them to leave the building via the goods lift after their shift has ended, says spokesperson Lucie Blaisse-Hoopman.
“The lockers of the staff are also next to the goods lift, so they can go outside immediately.” She emphasizes that staff can use the escalator when there are no customers in the store.
Solution
Trade union BeeUnited/FNV is not satisfied with the motivation of the leadership. “The rule symbolizes how De Bijenkorf treats its staff these days,” says director Vermeulen. “In an attempt to supposedly satisfy the customer, their own employees are completely ignored. If it does indeed happen that employees sometimes leave the building too quickly, discuss this with the people first. Find a solution together, instead of burdening everyone with leaving fifteen minutes later.”
Corien Glaudemans
@corien_glaud
Small pay rise
As far as BeeUnited/FNV is concerned, the unrest about the new rule fits into a broader picture. The employees of the Bijenkorf are demanding a substantial wage increase because of the more expensive life. BeeUnited/FNV wants at least 10 percent more. The minimum hourly wage must be 14 euros, now it is an average of 11 to 12 euros. In an earlier final offer, however, the management did not want to go further than 6 percent more salary.
There have been six strike days since the end of September. On Friday November 25, Black Friday, is next and it should be the biggest yet. Bijenkorf employees then stop working all day, and in the afternoon there is also a manifestation on Dam Square in Amsterdam. Of the seven Bijenkorf stores, staff from the branches in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Amstelveen and Eindhoven are participating.
Rekindle
The ban on escalators in The Hague, which Vermeulen says is ‘inhumane’, will only fuel the willingness to take action of Bijenkorf employees in the royal city, she says. As far as BeeUnited/FNV is concerned, the rule will disappear as soon as possible. The other option, according to the union, is that employees will be paid an extra 15 minutes from now on.
At De Bijenkorf in Amsterdam, dozens of employees went on strike for higher wages at the end of October:
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