Médiacité traders threatened with fines because they closed the shutter at 8 p.m.
Employees of stores located in the Médiacité shopping center in Liège were threatened with penalty payments on Friday evening because they closed the shutters at 8:00 p.m., reported Saturday morning Julien Dejon, CNE permanent representative for the commerce sector in the province of Liège. He emphasizes that the staff only respected the law. Night work begins at 8:00 p.m. in Belgium and is prohibited in the commercial sector.
A conflict that has lasted for several months
On Friday evenings, the Médiacité gallery is normally open until 9:00 p.m. But for several months, a standoff has pitted the unions against the operators of the shopping center, namely the real estate group CBRE. The CNE regularly carries out actions in order, in particular, to enforce the legislation while night work is prohibited in the commercial sector.
A bailiff came accompanied by the police.
According to the union, the social inspection even intervened to force the stores to close their doors at 8 p.m. “This Friday evening, a bailiff came accompanied by the police. He brutally addressed the salespeople, telling them that they did not have the right to close the store at 8:00 p.m. and then threatened them with 1,000 euros in fines if they did it again.‘”, Julien Dejon told the Belgian agency. “They were mostly very young girls who are just employees of a multinational and who work the schedule received from their employer“, he emphasizes.
According to the CNE, Médiacité appealed to the court of first instance, claiming assault against its freedom to trade. The penalties run until July 7, “it is clearly the start of the sales which is targeted here“, points out the trade unionist.
Médiacité has already found itself under fire on several occasions due to the price of parking and the lack of security in its car parks in particular. Requested by the Belga agency, the manager of Médiacité did not respond immediately.
Mediacité Liège
