Picnic agrees pay deal for 4,000 staff, sets standard for internet retailers

Photo: Picnic
Photo: Picnic

Picnic, the online supermarket which has refused to follow national guidelines in supermarket pay, has reached its own separate salary deal giving staff a rise of 6% over two years, the Telegraaf said on Friday.

The company’s 4,000 workers will also get an extra day’s holiday and a €200 allowance to pay for courses. In addition, people on temporary contracts will be eligible for permanent contracts after two years.

The deal was agreed between the company and white-collar union De Unie and, says the Telegraaf, is the first pay deal which has been worked out for an internet company.

Court

Picnic was taken to court by the FNV trade union at the end of last year for refusing to pay staff in line with the supermarket pay and conditions agreement (cao).

The union says Picnic is unfairly competing with other supermarkets, pointing out that Albert Heijn and Jumbo, which also run online retail operations, do have to pay staff in line with the supermarket cao.

But the court ruled  only 15 members of staff, who work for the unit which specifically focuses on selling food and other goods to consumers, should fall under the nationally-agreed pay deal.

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