Workers from the shops and shelters of the association Les Petits Riens have joined the strike action which began last Friday,
The strike action was organised by staff at the Les Petits Riens sorting centre in the Brussels municipality of Anderlecht. Setca and the CNE are denouncing the lack of dialogue with staff and are warning of the ‘commercialisation" of Les Petits Riens, despite its status as a "major player in the social economy".
Last Friday, around 50 people took part in the picket organised outside the sorting centre. Since 6.00am on Tuesday, there have been around fifty more, ten of whom have been replaced by staff from the shops and shelters.
The target of the strike is a restructuring plan deemed to be ‘brutal’, involving the announcement of around twenty redundancies (mainly involving sorting centre workers). The Setca and the CNE insist that ‘social consultation is the big forgotten factor in this restructuring plan’. ‘
"Not only has management not bothered to come and meet the workers on the picket line on Friday, but it is also pursuing its redundancy plan according to its own performance and behaviour criteria’, they deplore.
On this second day of strike action, however, the unions intend to make a more general denunciation of corporate management, which they feel is at odds with the social DNA of Les Petits Riens as a charity organisation.
Since the change of management about a year ago, they point to "increasing pressure" on staff, the demotion of some employees (instead of offering them training) and the modification of "more restrictive" working hours without prior consultation with staff.
"Under the pretext of adapting to fluctuations in the second-hand market, the management committee is only suppressing its historic raison d'être as a player in the social economy: namely the fight against social exclusion and poverty," the unions conclude.
