Presenting Buurtsuper.be

1. 1. Structureand 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

2. 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 committeesThese joint committees set up concrete collective labour agreements on wage and terms of employmente.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 1. Structureand Legal entity Luc Ardies

3. 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”. 2. Collectivelabour contract Luc Ardies

4. 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 3. Bilateralism Luc Ardies

5. 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. 4. Industrial relations Luc Ardies

6. 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. 4. Industrial relations Luc Ardies

7. 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).

8. The employers and employees carry out this commitment by means of : • an increase in on-the-job training • a collaboration with the employment office (VDAB) with a view to trainings for job seekers • closer collaboration with the educational networks concerned with a view to train-the-trainer projects for teachers in business education • 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

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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: • General Sales • Polyvalent Shop Assistant in the Food Retail Trade • Sales – Multimedia • Junior Fashion Consultant (Fashion – Sales) • Do-It-Yourself

13. 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.

14. Results activities for unemployed people :

15. 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 : • Professional attitude (1 day ) • Creativity and positive thinking (1/2 day ) • Sales training (BOX – see under “d”) (1 day ) • Roll-play & handling complaints (1 day ) • Practical exercices (1/2 day) • Teachers who attend the courses are teaching in secondary schools mainly in • shopmanagement (basic level).

16. 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

17. 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)

18. 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 family-unfriendly 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 5. Themes Luc Ardies