On Thursday 4 November, we again had consultations with the management of Plus and Coop about the social plan for the merger. It was a pleasant and constructive conversation. We talked in broad terms about the content of the new social plan. Here are the most important points from the consultation, the role of the Works Council (OR) and the outstanding points for 13 November.Want to be the first to be informed about developments at Plus/Coop? Sign up for free here!
Aanleiding
It concerns the merging of the service offices in Velp, Utrecht and Almere to the current office in Utrecht. It is expected that about 100 people could lose their current job and or suddenly have to travel further.
Social plan 2020 Oss
The managements want to use the social plan that applied to the transition to one central distribution center in Oss as the basis for the new social plan. We think that's a good idea. All employees are then treated equally.
Severance pay
We want to make good agreements about the severance pay. The basic principle is that the Transition Payment Scheme from the previous social plan will apply. This arrangement is considerably better than the current Transition Allowance. This is definitely a gain.
Travel time
We want to make good agreements about when another job is “suitable”. Especially when it comes to travel time. The management wants to calculate the travel time according to a route planner. I, advocate Gerard van der Lit, have in any case indicated that we should also take this into account in view of the daily traffic jams to and from Utrecht. A good “work from home arrangement” would also offer a solution.
Appropriate work
Another point is what we definitely need to talk about, which is a fitting function now. There will certainly also be new functions. This will not only have consequences for the Coop employees, but also for the Plus employees. Duplicate functions will arise and who will then be allowed to stay? The concept also includes parts about outplacement, training, legal costs, the non-competition clause, job application leave and the like.
The OR
Afterwards, we also sat down with a delegation from the Works Council of COOP. In an earlier meeting we had agreed that we would keep each other informed of the choices we are going to make. We would also hold a staff meeting to get more information. The Works Council has already advised positively on the merger. They did this for their own reasons. This is also fine. Unfortunately, there was no staff meeting and there will be no more. We want to schedule another appointment with the Works Council of Plus.
Continuation
If you still have questions regarding the social plan, please send me an e-mail via gerard.van.der.lit@unie.nl. Then I will take all input into account in the conversation on Thursday 18 November. Then I will inform you in detail about the current state of affairs.
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