Small rises at French supermarket giant

Carrefour, the French supermarket group, has agreed pay rises for its two major businesses in France, Carrefour Hypermarchés, which covers the bigger sites, and Carrefour Market, the division for smaller supermarkets. In both cases the increases are small and only some of the unions have signed the deal.

Carrefour Hypermarchés, which employs 57,500 in 200 stores, was the first to sign, on 23 February. The deal provides for a 0.5% pay increase. Although small, this still represents an increase in real terms, as prices are currently falling – down 0.3% in February compared with a year earlier. Two unions FO, the largest in Carrefour, and CFE-CGC have signed the deal, but two have not. These are the CGT and the CFDT, which in particular object to the increased length of service required before staff are paid a holiday bonus and the end of year bonus equivalent to a 13th month‘s pay. The service requirement has gone up from three months to 12.

At Carrefour Market, which signed on 6 March, the pay increase is slightly higher – between 0.6% and 0.7%, depending on grade. Here only the CGT has refused to sign the agreement.

The non-signatory unions are calling for the negotiations to be reopened, but this seems unlikely.