Bricorama ends triple-time Sundays
DIY company halves the bonus it pays staff for working on their ‘family day’
After winning agreement from staff to open up on Sundays, DIY store Bricorama has gone back on its decision to pay triple time and has said that from May it will only be paying double time.
The company, which led the fight for Sunday opening that was finally extended in last year’s Loi Macron, had been opening on Sundays illegally for several years and was fined €500,000 in 2015.
It won employees’ support when it started its campaign for Travail dominical in 2011 after promising they would be paid at triple time plus a day off in lieu and this helped swing public opinion.
At the time polls showed that people quite liked the idea of being able to shop on Sunday but did not especially want to give up what is seen as a family day.
However, the working contracts that the company signed with staff and unions only specified a 100% pay bonus for Sunday working plus a day off in lieu and Bricorama has said that it will enforce this from May 1 for new staff, while present staff will maintain their conditions for a year.
The company has justified its move by saying it is facing competition from rivals Leroy-Merlin and Castorama but these companies pay a 150% bonus for Sunday working.
Unions such as Force Ouvrière Commerce say the snowball effect means they will follow Bricorama and they fear that soon Sundays will be just another working day with no extra pay.
At present Bricorama only opens shops on Sunday in Ile-de-France and in certain provincial towns where the Loi Macron exceptions apply, mainly in tourist areas.
