Online grocery delivery companies, such as Gorillas, Getir, Picnic and Flink, do not want to comply with the same collective labor agreement as traditional supermarkets and are therefore taking legal action. Both Picnic and several unions confirm this on Thursday NRC. FNV, CNV and trade association the Vakcentrum are expected in the court of Amsterdam on Wednesday 30 November for a so-called docket hearing. In a statement, the trade association for web sellers E-commerce Netherlands asks the court to clarify the scope of the supermarket collective labor agreement.
In September, the collective labor agreement was declared generally binding by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. This means that all supermarkets, physical or online, fall under the same collective labor agreement. The employment conditions that traditional supermarkets use, such as paying evening and weekend allowances, must also be applied by companies such as Picnic and Flink. Because online supermarkets use a different working method, they believe that there should be a separate collective agreement for them. Against NRC Picnic CEO Michiel Muller says on Thursday that the collective labor agreement is difficult to apply to Picnic’s business operations: “A shelf filler and a delivery driver are not the same.”
Read also: Picnic sells groceries but does not want to be a supermarket
Traditional supermarkets and online delivery companies have been at odds for some time now. In 2019, the trade union FNV took Picnic to court. Picnic won that lawsuit. The court ruled that the online supermarket does not have to treat and pay its staff in the same way as ‘regular’ supermarkets. Muller says he hopes for a similar decision this time.
The Vakcentrum and the unions received the summons on Thursday, but do not want to respond substantively. A consultation with employers will take place on Thursday evening, after which FNV expects to respond. The unions are currently “studying” the summons. They do confirm that the roll hearing will take place on November 30.