Picnic will disappear from the Netherlands if the online grocery delivery service has to comply with the supermarket Collective Labor Agreement (CAO). This was Stated by CEO Michiel Muller on Wednesday in The Radio Program Sven on 1 .
The Outgoing Cabinet Previously Granted Picnic An Exemption, Meaning that the Company Did Not Have To Adhere To The Collective Labor Agreement for Supermarket Personnel. Picnic Has Now submitted a new request for an exemption to the ministry of social affairs and employment.
The Company is not Yet Thinking About Leaving. But that could change, Muller Said in the Radio Program. “If we don’t get an exemption, we have 40 percent highher costs than the stores. Then you can no longer compete and you have to move your investments to other country,” Said the CEO.
Picnic does not think it is fair that it has to comply with the supermarket collective laborement application, because the company is a grocery delivery service and not a normal supermarket with stores. In Addition, Muller Stated That Traditional Supermarkets Mainly Employ Young People, Who Receive Youth Wages. Picnic Says It Employs Almost No Young People.
In June, The Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeal Ruled That Picnic Does Fall Under The Supermarket Collective Labor Agreement. That meean that the company had to Apply the collective Labor Retroactively between September 2022 and July 2023. As a result, thousands of employees are still entitled to extra surcharges.
Recently, The Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) Already Said that it May Become More Difficult for Picnic to Compete with Traditional Supermarkets If The Supermarket Collective Labor Agreement is Made Mandatory Services. That is Why the Supervisor Has Asked Outgoing Minister Eddy Van Hijum (Social Affairs and Employment) to take this into account when making a decision about an exemption from the collective Labor Agreement.