{"id":12824,"date":"2026-04-24T10:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T10:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/12824\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T10:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T10:50:12","slug":"strikes-at-aldi-belgium-spread-like-wildfire-concerns-over-sunday-openings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/12824\/","title":{"rendered":"Strikes at Aldi Belgium spread like wildfire: concerns over Sunday openings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.retaildetail.eu\/wp-content\/themes\/retaildetail\/assets\/sources\/images\/book_icon.svg\" alt=\"icon\" title=\"Article\"\/>    <\/p>\n<p>            <img width=\"1000\" height=\"667\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/shutterstock_750368977.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>        <\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 Shutterstock.com<\/p>\n<p>Aldi is considering opening its Belgian stores on Sundays as well, news causing unrest among employees. More than 50 stores across the country are closed today and strikes will continue this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Spontaneous actions<\/p>\n<p>Because these are spontaneous actions, it is very difficult to know exactly which stores are closed and when. On Friday morning, ACV Puls reported about fifty closed supermarkets in Flanders, while BBTK told the Belga news agency <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hln.be\/binnenland\/in-kaart-deze-aldi-winkels-zijn-vandaag-gesloten-door-spontane-acties~a98f8202\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">that about thirty stores were blocked<\/a> \u2014 including some in Wallonia. From Beerse to Zelzate, strikes are taking place in virtually every province. Aldi itself puts the number at \u201cseveral dozen stores.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The unions are receiving indications that stores will also remain closed on Saturday, but that the situation is unpredictable and could change rapidly. These are spontaneous walkouts by staff, \u201cwhich we are not calling for but which we naturally support,\u201d says Koen van Schoubroeck, ACV Puls union representative, speaking to RetailDetail. There are also reportedly very few picket lines, according to Belga: rather than staging organized protests, disgruntled employees are simply staying home in protest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCold announcement\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Employees are primarily expressing their dissatisfaction with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.retaildetail.be\/nl\/news\/food\/ook-aldi-overweegt-zondagsopening\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the \u201ccold announcement\u201d that Aldi intends to remain open on Sundays<\/a>. The staff was taken by surprise, as they had hoped to discuss other grievances, and management reportedly planned to schedule a meeting only in June. \u201cThat\u2019s too long to wait. Employees want to know what the intentions are and what they can expect,\u201d said Van Schoubroeck, \u201cpreferably today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aldi regrets the actions, as the chain \u201cstill wants to give every opportunity for constructive social dialogue,\u201d said spokesperson Jason Sevestre. No one dares to predict how the situation will evolve in the coming days, but it is already clear that things will remain turbulent at the discount retailer in the days ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a9 Shutterstock.com Aldi is considering opening its Belgian stores on Sundays as well, news causing unrest among employees.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,694],"class_list":["post-12824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-belgium","tag-industrial-action"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116459302197979804","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}