Lidl calls for unlimited strike starting Thursday to demand "decent working conditions"

In a leaflet, the inter-union (CFDT, CGT, CFTC and FO) invites employees of the retailer Lidl to strike "every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday" to denounce an "exponential increase in the workload" which "ruins (their) health" and "against the obligation to work on Sundays and public holidays".

These unions also denounce "a massive reduction in staff numbers." Lidl has some 46,000 employees in 1,600 stores in France. The Unsa (French National Union of French Workers), the group's leading union, is not a signatory to this leaflet calling for a rolling strike.

In early February, the CFDT, CGT, CFTC, FO, and CFE-CGC unions called for a strike for similar reasons and to demand a wage increase. It was widely supported and suspended after four days.

The German-born discounter has had a turbulent start to the year, amid a tense social climate and the announcement at the end of January of the surprise departure of its main media figure in France, its vice-president Michel Biero.