Lidl workers have been asked not to work during the strike – PAM: panic response not binding

Asking about working time in the context of a strike is a subtle semantics.

Employees at a Lidl store in Lahti have been asked whether they will be available on strike days. According to Yle, the store manager had gone around with a list and casually asked who was available.

According to the employee interviewed by Yle, the employer had also said that the absence on strike days should be reported according to the normal absence policy.

Some workers have found this distressing, as it differs from Lidl’s public announcement. Lidl has said that it will not ask its workers to take part in the strike in advance.

An anonymous Lidl employee says he had refused to respond to the employer’s inquiries and contacted the trade union. He felt that the employer pressured the employees in relation to the obligation to report.

The identity of the employee is known to YLE.

No direct question about staying on strike

– According to our guidelines, employees are not asked directly to participate in the strike. In order to evaluate our available workforce during the strike, the employer has the right to inquire if the employee may be available during the strikes.

Lidl needs information in order to plan the work and to ensure the possibility of opening the store.

Santanen says that the employee is not forced to tell his availability on strike days and that the employees are not asked directly to participate in the strike. The employee also has the right to change his or her mind.

– If the employee is absent on the strike day without notice, the employee is interpreted as the strike.

“You can stuff the answer in the shredder”

In Lahti, the store manager withdrew his claim to report the absence of the employee’s strike day after the employees had contacted the trade union shop steward. Yle has seen a message sent by the store manager to employees.

According to the employees, it was also said during last year’s strike that non -reporting would become unauthorized absence.

– We have trusted in corporate announcements that they do not ask, but we know that this will happen.

The rocky slope reminds us that even if the employee has answered the question in panic, whatever, it does not bind in any way.

– Here is an organization from the strike, it is not on the employee’s shoulders. Its answer can be pushed to the shredder.