1. Structure and Legal entity
Presenting Buurtsuper.be
Buurtsuper.be vzw is the UNIZO federation for the independent food retail and
defends the interests of independent food retailers, from small self-employers to big
independent supermarkets. Buurtsuper.be organises a wide range of services for
these retailers.
Buurtsuper.be represents 25000 independent food retailers in the joint committee
201 which discusses topics on labour conditions, employment premiums, grants on
educational initiatives for employees and jobseekers, premiums for childcare
costs,….
Luc Ardies
8 May 2012
1. Structure and Legal entity
Legal Framework of reference
The social dialogue in Belgium contains:
an interprofessional dialogue between employer organisations and employee
organisations in the National Labour Council in which UNIZO, the umbrella
organisation of Buurtsuper.be, represents the SME’s. A Frame work agreement is set
up for further sectoral dialogue.
•a sectoral dialogue between employer organisations and employee organisations:
joint committees
These joint committees set up concrete collective labour agreements on wage and
terms of employment
e.g. joint committee for independent supermarket (JC 202.01/ white collar workers)
e.g. joint committee for blue collar workers in de food business (JC 119/ blue collar
workers)
Buurtsuper.be represents the employers negotiations (every 2 year) on the collective
labour agreements
Luc Ardies
8 May 2012
2. Collective labour contract
A CLA or collective labour agreement is an agreement which is entered into between unions and
employers’ organisations. The collective relations between employers and employees in a particular
branch of industry are laid down in this agreement. The rights and obligations of both parties are
stipulated in this document. The representative employers’ organisations and unions negotiate the
conditions of employment and the wage conditions for a specific period, and agree on a period of
social peace (in Belgium typically two years).
•Employer representatives (indicate the name of the signatory organizations):
• Buurtsuper.be (Flemisch sme’s)
• Comeos (Retail Chains)
• UCM (Walloon sme’s)
•Workers’ representatives (indicate the name of the signatory organizations): LBC (Flemisch
christian organisation of employees), CNE (Walloon Christian organisation of employees,
BBTK/Secta (socialist organisation of employees) and ACLVB (liberal organisation of employees)
•Other:
The CLA is typically binding: if the employers’ organisations and unions which enter into the CLA are
considered representative by the government, then the CLA is binding on all employers and
employees, even if they are not part of the organizations concerned. At the request of a party to the
CLA, the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment will declare a CLA “generally binding”.
Luc Ardies
8 May 2012
3. Bilateralism
Employers organizations and workers organizations are represented in a commun Social
Fund for the independant retail branche (SF 201 and SF 202.012). Employers pay a
contribution of 0,50% on the bruto amount of the salary of the employes to the Social
Fund. Both organizations decide on the board of the Social Fund wich actions are
financed with the budget. The goal of het Social Fund is to promote employment and
especially people who belong to risk groups.
Experiences
- Subsidies for training costs
- Subsidies to employ risk groups (low educated people, disabled people, unemployed, ...)
- Subsidies for costs childcare
Luc Ardies
8 May 2012
4. Industrial relations
The negotiations with a view to entering into collective labour agreements take place
during the sectorial consultation between the representative
employers’ organisations and the unions. Additionally, for enterprises employing 50 people
or more, there is consultation at company level. This consultation, however, must fit in
with the sectorial agreement. No structural consultation takes place at company level in
the case of SMEs (<50 employees). For these SMEs the conditions that apply are those
which were agreed upon during the sectorial consultation and the collective labour
agreements signed, in that context, by the representative organisations. These CLAs are
generally binding, in other words, all enterprises must abide by them.
Within the joint committee for the independent retail trade (JC 201) and the joint
committee for medium-sized food companies (JC 202.01), Buurtsuper.be and its umbrella
organisation UNIZO, together with the unions, in 1997 created so-called ‘Regional
Consultation Bodies’ for enterprises employing more than 20 people:
These ‘regional consultation bodies’ have the authority to handle individual or collective
disputes or conflicts pertaining to the labour relations, the application within companies of
the social legislation, the collective labour agreements, the individual employment
agreements and the company rules.
Luc Ardies
8 May 2012
4. Industrial relations
Conflict mediation
Individual complaints which are lodged with the representatives in the regional consultation body are
handled within the regional consultation body. The regional consultation bodies are chaired by the
chairman of the joint committee. The members of the regional consultation bodies may ask the
chairman to add certain topics to the agenda provided that they are within the competence of the
regional consultation bodies. The competent regional consultation body invites an employer in the
event of a dispute or an argument of a collective nature arising in the company.
Organisation of the information
The powers of the ‘regional consultation bodies’ also pertain to the organisation of the information of
the employers and employees by their respective representatives. This information relates to the labour
relations and the application of the social legislation, the collective labour agreements and the
company rules. Employers’ organisations or unions may also spread information about the social
legislation, CLAs etc. within the company provided that they advise the regional consultation body and
the employer in advance. This information must remain objective and correct and must be respectful of
employers and employees.
The information is provided to the employer, who disseminates it as follows:
- either, by way of ‘official notification’, within the company, on a notice board placed in a spot which is
easily accessible to the employees;
- or by an employee of the company.
In the event that the employer is opposed to the information being disseminated, he must give the
reasons for this refusal to the regional consultation body.
Luc Ardies
8 May 2012
Section 5 – The Five themes
employment contracts that facilitate entry into the world of
work and provide training to increase the skills of workers
With every sectorial agreement, the social partners (employers’
organisations and unions) undertake, by means of a collective labour
agreement, to increase the degree of participation in vocational training for
the entire sector by 5% annually. This commitment is supported by the
Social Fund, which provides subsidies for that.
The Social Fund is financed by means of an extra contribution which is
paid by the employers (0.10% on the gross salary).
The employers and employees carry out this commitment
by means of :
1. an increase in on-the-job training
2. a collaboration with the employment office (VDAB) with a view to
trainings for job seekers
3. closer collaboration with the educational networks concerned with a view
to train-the-trainer projects for teachers in business education
4. collaboration with a temping agency specialising in retail (Randstad) with
a view to short-term training programmes for temporary employees that
can be deployed in the retail sector
1. Increase in on-the-job training
The efforts to promote this training, both among employers and employees, are
initiated by the Social Fund. By developing a website, placing ads in various
(specialist) journals and sending direct mails, the number of training hours keeps
rising year after year.
2. collaboration with the employment office (VDAB) with a view to
trainings for job seekers
The sales trainings in collaboration with VDAB aim to help as many job
seekers from the training as possible get a job in the distribution sector. Our
sales trainings for job seekers are in-depth and practice-oriented trainings
during which the students get many practical tips and tricks which they can
use on the workfloor. They are armed with information they need on the job.
Approach
The approach to the sales trainings is not academic, but very practical. The
emphasis is on concrete, compact, useful and practice-oriented information.
For example, visits to shops are organized, among others, to accompany
practical assignments.
The participants are taught by specialist teachers, people with a great deal of
experience that are still active in the field, and from whom they can learn a
lot.
The didactic material we use has been specifically designed for people whose
schooldays are over. It contains many useful tips and tricks which the students
take with them on the workfloor. In this way, they learn to work efficiently within the
sector. PMO vzw continually invests in renewing and expanding the didactic
material. Examples include:
the educational comic “De trouwjurk van Sofie” (Sofie’s Wedding Dress), in which
the fashion-conscious Sofie searches for a wedding dress
a brochure with ergonomics tips for working a cash register
the DVD about customer-friendliness and complaint handling, in which Flemish
actors show how best to deal with complaining and demanding customers
the guide on colour and style advice
…
PMO vzw seeks to take an innovative and non-pedantic or dull approach to training,
aimed at improving customer service. By using pictures and footage, the students
learn more and more easily than they would from thick textbooks. After the training,
the students receive a nice booklet in which the most important tips and techniques
featured in the course are repeated in an original way. This approach works well with
the target groups that PMO vzw caters to.
Target group
• Who: candidates aspiring to become professional salesmen/women.
• Number of participants: maximum 15 students per training to enable the
lessons
to be kept interactive
• Foreknowledge:
• Good social skills are a plus
• (basic) command of Dutch is a must as the training is given entirely in
Dutch.
• Flexibility when it comes to working weekends and, possibly, evenings.
• Dynamic personality
• Immaculately groomed
PMO vzw offers 5 sales trainings:
1. General Sales
2. Polyvalent Shop Assistant in the Food Retail Trade
3. Sales – Multimedia
4. Junior Fashion Consultant (Fashion – Sales)
5. Do-It-Yourself
Traineeship
Upon completion of a training course, all students do a practice-oriented
traineeship at a shop of their choosing. During those few weeks, the student is
supposed to assist in the shop and perform a wide range of tasks that are
representative of a job in the sector. In this way, the simulated situations and
the role-playing which were/was rehearsed in class are turned into realistic
situations on the workfloor.
We encourage the students to search for a trainee post at a shop that has a
job opening. This increases the odds of getting a job.
The traineeship is fulltime. This means that everyone works a minimum of 36
hours and a maximum of 40 hours a week.
Results activities for unemployed people :
2007
2008
2009
2010-2011
Totaal
Trainees
259
319
273
487
1.338
Days
387
435
408
636
1.866
Hours
2322
2610
2448
3816
11.196
3. Closer collaboration with the educational networks concerned with
a view to train-the-trainer projects for teachers in business education
Objective : to let VET teachers get more acquainted with new trends and
concepts in retail through train-the-trainer methods
PMO vzw, the specialised training institute of UNIZO Winkelraad, started from
‘ad-hoc’ train-the-trainer concepts towards the structural implementation of
train-the-trainer trajects for all teachers in vocational training (on voluntary
base).
PMO developed a 4-days course containing the following modules :
1. Professional attitude (1 day )
2. Creativity and positive thinking (1/2 day )
3. Sales training (BOX – see under “d”) (1 day )
4. Roll-play & handling complaints (1 day )
5. Practical exercices (1/2 day)
Teachers who attend the courses are teaching in secondary schools mainly in
shopmanagement (basic level).
4. Collaboration with a temping agency specialising in retail
(Randstad) with a view to short-term training programmes for
temporary employees that can be deployed in the retail sector
Objective: To anticipate the needs of the retail sector by increasing the commercial
skills of the employees and by giving them extra tools to perform their tasks.
Duration: 2 days
Contents: In the box “Op weg naar een succesvolle winkelverkoop” (on the road to
successful shop sales) we work around the various stages of the sales process. The
training features an interactive setup around a ‘box’, whereby participants are
guided, in 7 steps, through a structured story, informing them about the various
stages of the sales process:
Welcome
Contact with customer
Sales talk
Convincing customers
Closing the sale
Complaints
Results temping activities :
Overview from autumn 2010 until the end of 2011 : 21 trainings
Number of students: 192
Number of hours of employment: 8,460 (1,007 days)
5. Themes
2. Reconciling work and family
The Social Fund provides allowances for employees who contribute partly towards nursery costs. This
applies to young children who have not yet reached school age and who are looked after by recognised
institutions on working days, as well as to older children with respect to nursery outside of school. This
is a greatly valued premium system in the retail sector because employees often need to work familyunfriendly hours (in the evenings until shop closing time at 8 p.m. or on Friday until 9 p.m., and on
weekends).
3. Management models that require the participation of workers and retribution systems tied to
productivity;
No models, no systems are applicable
4. Income support for workers and businesses
See 2)
5. Workplace safety:
Only actions provisioned by the regulation
Luc Ardies
8 May 2012