Isn't this sort of thing against the law?
This letter to the editor was published in The Times today. It should have been taken further and developed into a full-blown investigation and news report.
It’s absolutely shocking.
Monday, October 24, 2011, by Peter Montebello, Żejtun
Supermarket cashiers who had to stand
Monday 1.30 p.m. I have just returned from Lidl at Bir id-Deheb.
I noticed that all the cashiers were standing, without any chairs. When I enquired about it they told me this was a punishment.
The reasonably short ones were level with the cash; the rather tall ones were bent over. Imagine a whole day standing up, in just one place with the added burden of some bending over.
Is this the way to treat workers? Or are these workers now considered slaves? Is it a case for the health and safety officials to intervene and take action (fining the Lidl management) and, maybe, revising the “punishments” meant for these workers?
72 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
The norm for supermarket cashiers in the U.S. is to work standing up. Occasionally you can find a seated cashier who is a disabled person.
In Switzerland, all supermarket cashiers are seated, welcome you with a ‘bonjour’, smile and bid you adieu with a ‘have a nice day’ (in French, German or Italian).
Perhaps this has something to do with a country that is proud, super efficient, profitable and cultured.
Why should they? Having said that, if they accepted the order hands down, then they do not deserve any better.
… and ankles chained to the counter …
Daphne, I agree with your comment that The Times should have investigated the story. This would have given Lidl the opportunity to explain the situation. I actually think that something like this is so unbelievable that I have my doubts about the truth of the story.
Daphne, its the norm for supermarket cashiers and most retailers that employees stand. This is not a punishment yet a solution to letting cashiers slump into a chair, not face the client and help them pack their bags. A solution to this is to give them an extra short break here and there. Nonetheless, the cash point and computer has to be raised and aligned for a standing position.
[Daphne – I think the solution is to have a bag-packer, really.]
Agreed and at least this should be done at peak times. The convenience and service beats any euro spent on advertising.
There are various solutions. How about using a sit-stand chair. Very common on production shopfloors!
I do not know which countries you have visited, JPS. I have visited quite a few and in all continents and have never seen supermarket cashiers standing.
Besides the inhumanity of “punishment”, the whole thing smacks of a collective punishment which is illegal and against human rights. It is or used to be permitted only in the army.
If this is the shape of things to come in a situation where jobs might be scarce, then we’re back to serfdom.
What a shame to expose those poor employees to clients like a group of slaves.
What next, line them all up in a coffle? I will not patronize any business that treats employees in this fashion, no matter what they’re supposed to be punished for.
Last year I was at Lidl and saw the same thing. One of the cashiers was talking while working the till, and all of a sudden another employee came and took her chair and said “Your queue is building up, so you have to stand up like those waiting for you”.
How about this flyer published by the Balzan Parish?
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150436900614954&set=a.315631379953.186183.661949953&type=1&theater
This is very similar to the Muslim one:
http://southernmuslimah.wordpress.com/2007/10/31/halloween-harmless-or-haram-an-islamic-perspective/
Quite right too. Beware is-sahhara, right?
JZ, how do you know it’s from the Balzan parish? There’s no name or address on it.
The person who uploaded the flyer said she received it in her mail and scanned it. Scroll through the comments. It’s there.
Well I suppose plenty of workers spend most of their day on their feet, so illegal, I don’t think it could possibly be.
Punishment! For what? Is Gaddafi running Lidl now?
Which law are you referring to?
It seems they are treated like school children.
Legal Notice 43-2002 Minimum health and safety requirements for workstations and display screen
equipment
Main piece of legislation (apart from the main directive)
(e) Work chair
The work chair shall be stable and allow the operator easy freedom of movement and a comfortable position.
The seat shall be adjustable in height.
The seat back shall be adjustable in both height and tilt.
A footrest shall be made available to any one who wishes for one.
I used to work in H&S in Malta
Yes, indeed, for sit-down jobs.
But is a cashier at a supermarket supposed to be seated?
Actually being seated and putting items through the scanner is more stressful (especially heavy objects) than standing up. The strain on the cashier’s back is just about doubled if sitting down, versus standing up.
Someone observed correctly that cashiers in the US always stand and if one sees a cashier sitting, it is automatically assumed that the exception was made for medical reasons.
If a Lidl employee was heard telling a cashier that she was taking her chair because her line was getting longer, then she be straightened out although, in my opinion that particular cashier had no business to be sitting down before her supervisor intervened.. Maybe her line got longer because sitting down took her longer to scan the groceries.
It is quite customary in larger chainstores that cashiers operate the tills for three hours and then they assume other duties like stocking shelves for a short time which helps them stretch their legs and break the monotony of processing customer after customer.
IRRELEVANT to the argument in question
Innutajt din is-sitwazzjoni il-Gimgha. Staghgibt ghaliex dan qatt ma rajtu jigri fi stabbilimenti simili barra minn xtutna. Staqsejt. Ir-risposta? Il-qalb tajba tal-gheziez “supervisors” Maltin li ghadhom kif lahqu! Niskuza ruhi ghan-nuqqas ta’ tikkek fuq iz-z,c, u s-sing fuq l-h etc..
I agree, it should have been taken Fuehrer.
john we are in europe not us thanks
More fuel to the fire.
And do not please quote article 3 of LN 43 as “non-applicable” as the second paragraph in the same chapter states….
“Provided that in those instances where these regulations are not applicable, any display screen equipment provided shall, as far as reasonably practicable, be without risk to the health and safety of the user, and in conformity with any other regulations in force and which are applicable under the circumstances.” Moving on to the next LN
LN44-2002 Minimum Work Place requirements
22. (1) The employer shall provide and maintain, suitable and sufficient seating for the use of any worker who is performing work which can be wholly or partly done in a seated position. Bazinga…..
(2) For the purpose of subregulation (1), the seating shall
not be suitable unless>
(a) the design, construction and dimensions of the seating
are suitable for the person for whom it is provided, and adequately supports the lower back< Bazinga
(b) it is suitably positioned so as to facilitate good working
posture< Bazinga
(c) the seating is adequately and properly supported while
in use for the purpose for which it is provided<Bazinga
(d) a foot-rest is provided on which the worker can readily
and comfortably support his feet.
(3) It shall be the duty of the employer to ensure appropriate
instruction of the employee as to the proper and adequate use of adjustable seats.
Bazinga being my own input. Get a lawyer girls!
Apparently in the USA cashiers are treated differently.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2007/01/sitting_or_standing_cashiers_c.html
I doubt if it’s against EU law. Shop assistants here in Vienna don’t sit down either, though supermarket cashiers (including at Lidl) do.
Quite a few employers (in Malta) treat their employees like dirt.
They do tend to pay as little as possible and extract as much work out of you as possible.
[Daphne – Oh, it’s not the standing up that bothers me, but the being made to stand up AS PUNISHMENT.]
It’s human nature. In my days as an hotel receptionist (long, long ago) I worked what was offically a 12 hour shift (in fact about 12 hours and 40 minutes as ‘handover’ time wasn’t paid) and often was so busy I literally didn’t have time to eat or go to the lavatory.
With luck I got to sit down for 10 minutes, though. After promotion to management my hours became open-ended – up to 60 hours a week was common and 70 not exceptional.
Good old socialist days, when you were glad to have any kind of job – not that that should excuse the inhumanity of my employers.
And finally
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND
SAFETY AUTHORITY ACT
(CAP. 424)
Protection against Risks of Back Injury at Work Places
Regulations, 2003
Sect 4 and Schedule 1
Has this person ever walked into a 4 / 5 hotel?
Has anyone ever noticed that cashiers / receptionists / concierge in hotels don’t have any chairs?
What’s the difference between a cashier in a hotel and one in a supermarket?
Could this be a new level of customer service in supermarkets, or is it really a punishment?
[Daphne – The people you mention all get to move around. Check-out girls don’t. If you stand in the same position for hours while looking constantly at a till and moving products, you can pass out. People with low blood pressure, like me, would be unable to do it.]
And back problems like me
“What’s the difference between a cashier in a hotel and one in a supermarket?”.
The long queues of people waiting to be served in supermarkets are presumably not found at hotel reception desks.
Yes they are but only at checkout time.
I understand what you’re saying, but believe me, the people I’m talking about don’t always get to move around.
Most, if not all, and I can mention names of hotels if need be, work on ‘stations’, and god forbid the duty manager or general manager doesn’t find the person on his/her ‘station’. Done it for some 17 years. Some things we just take for granted.
“Has this person ever walked into a 4 / 5 hotel?” If you are referring to me, please do not go there. You would not like the reply.
It’s quite normal that receptionists are seated at the front desk even doing paper work, and they stand up when a client approaches them.
The height of the desk is suited for its purpose. Nothing wrong there. I haven’t actually looked (or at least I don’t remember looking) but I don’t think that I’ve ever seen Tesco till tarts on their feet; they always sit. The same at Ocado (formerly Waitrose of John Lewis’s Group). Sainsbury’s also.
[Daphne – Till tarts? Shabby.]
Lidl is renowned for this type of treatment of its employees.
Check out this site http://www.beppegrillo.it/2006/07/fantozzi_e_vivo_1.html
These are the same people running Lidl Malta.
Shame on them
Lidl UK same problem.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/mar/14/businesscomment.supermarkets
LIDL has never been famous for good working conditions. It is a very well known fact.
http://franklludwig.com/lidl.html
It must be dementia.
I have been into supermarkets all over Europe since I was studying in Italy in 1966.
I never saw a single cashier in the standing position.
But then I am not sure whether it is me or everyone else going crazy.
I agree with Anthony. Usually cashiers are all seated. Unless someone gets also tired of sitting down and decides to stand up. But the chair remains at the till.
I have yet to see a Lidl employee looking happy at work.
I don’t recall anyone asking how many breaks they have during the day.
A good idea would be to supply them with sun-beds, then they might look happy.
One goes to work to earn a living. Being happy or not is not the question, as long as they are civil to the customers and do their job properly.
I was referring specifically to Lidl employees. I do not notice that sort of listless and nonchalant attitude in employees at other supermarkets.
The management imposed that punishment because some clients were not putting on the belt the heavier packets: say the packed 6 bottles of drinks, the full box 12 cartons of milk, etc. Usually, they just pick up one item of the pack and punch in times the number of items in the pack.
The check-out counter is designed so that the trolley is ‘garaged’ on the left side of the cashier. It seems that clients were not properly aligning the trolleys in this bay. Another reason for punishing the cashiers collectively.
I feel very strongly that workers are to be treated first and foremost as human beings. And I do not believe in collective “punishments” (oh what a word).
So that’s why last Saturday the cashier literally made sure my trolley was tucked right into that ‘gap’ in the desk.
I was the last in the queue, so no one would have had to pass by me.
The dark side of discipline.
I am told that at HSBC call centre staff are disciplined if speaking Maltese even in the canteen.
A real shame if this is so.
We’re back in the 1940s when my parents used to pay “xelin” for speaking Maltese in the village state school.
[Daphne – Actually I think that was an excellent exercise because it forced older generations to speak and learn English. Unfortunately, the propaganda put about was that this was done in schools because Maltese was frowned upon and seen as a kitchen language. The real reason is that if pupils spoke Maltese as a first language (at home) and were also permitted to speak it at school, then they were never going to learn how to speak English. Look around you today and you will see the results of children being allowed to speak Maltese at school when they also speak it at home. They can’t speak English at all. I’ll admit we can’t go back to that system, but I still think English should be mandatory during certain lessons, just to get children used to speaking it.]
I’d go a step further and back Evarist Bartolo’s recent call for English to become the language of instruction in schools.
I fully agree that it was a very good way to learn English and with the rest of your reply.
In all honesty, people today speak horrible Maltese and horrible English. Few are the people who speak proper Maltese and proper English. We are also losing Italian which is a shame really.
I have students who are hardly capable of stringing together an eight-word sentence in either language without reverting to the other. Thoughts and idioms are jumbled up with no coherent line of thought.
So, the problem is not really that people, in general, don’t know how to express themselves in English but that people do not know how to express themselves in ANY language whatsoever.
Try holding a conversation with any average Maltese for more than ten minutes (even less) and see whether they can hold a conversation for that long in any one language spoken correctly.
I used to work as a front office cashier in a 5-star hotel many, many years ago.
We did have a swivel chair behind the reception area but hardly ever used it as those days hotels were very busy, and since I was in charge of the guests` bills, I often had to run up and down stairs to get to the accounts office to look for chits that the guests had signed. Most wanted to verify even a cup of coffee that was charged to their bill.
Moreover, I had not an entire day off ever. The shifts were every weekday, either from 8am till 3pm, alternating to 3pm till 11pm. Saturdays and Sundays either from 9am till 2pm or from 6pm till 11pm.
Can you imagine an 18yr old, this day and age, working without a day off? Mela le!
I admit, we had a much better pay than most plus very good tips as the hotel was frequented by quite a number of well-to-do people. However, we hardly had time to go out over the weekends, as you were either too tired to bother or working.
And yet, we were thankful we had a job and hardly ever grumbled.
And in my case, it was not a question of not finding another job elsewhere because very few people knew how to operate an NCR42 machine which was used instead of what we know now as computers, and we were only about 15 students who could do that, following a hotel management course at MCAST.
We knew, in spite of our tender age, that work is work, wherever you go, and it would never be plain sailing.
We respected our superiors and, I have to add, we were respected in return.
We also understood that a front office cashier`s job was very delicate, and the fewer people you had handling all that money, the fewer the problems. Hence the reason that we two cashiers never had a day off as we had to relieve each other and we were the only two who were allowed to touch any money.
What I mean to say by all this is that no, no employees should ever be treated as serfs, because without them no company, be it a supermarket or whatever, can function after all, but I find that these days it seems like some of the employees feel they are doing the employer a favour, especially the younger ones.
And they shy away from responsibility; when it suits them, they just leave.
So this Lidl situation should be investigated and employees given their right to sit during their shift, but let`s not go to extremes because, as the Maltese saying goes “mis-seba` jiehdulek l-id “.
I am sometimes disgusted when I enter a shop or a supermarket and the sales people or even cashiers look at me as if I was the devil in persona. Service with a smile indeed.
Shocking to say the least. Lidl do however have a bad track record regarding fair treatment to their staff.
I am checking with a police official friend of mine whether this is legal. If not, I really suggest Mr. Montebello file a police report asap. I would have placed a report if I had witnessed this myself… big time.
This is not a matter to be reported to the police. The law on health and safety, and industrial relations laws, are not administered by the Police. There are separate authorities for this purpose.
If immediate action needed to be taken, then, well, that would be the Police. In the long term, it’s the labour office.
Wayne, the Police cannot administer laws where the authority is vested in a specific authority. And we are not a police state. Not until 2013.
It does not need someone with low blood pressure to pass out if they stand up immobile for long periods. Guards standing “at ease” for long periods on the parade ground do it regularly. Wiggling your toes is usually enough to prevent it.
Successive government have managed to break the unions’ back (and I am not talking only of Malta here). This is what you get a a result.
Government boasting of how high their employment figures are, yet ignoring the quality of jobs and in what conditions they are carried out. I can’t wait for the OCCUPY movement to land in Malta.
Last Saturday, when going through the check-out at Lidl, my cashier was desperate to go to the lavatory and asked the customers in the queue behind me to excuse her for a couple of minutes while she rushed off, ringing the alarm bell for someone to cover for her. But no one did.
LIDL, please note. Your employees have families…. and these families are ultimately, your clients.
…they won’t leave because their pay is good, I mean really good when compared to that of others doing the same job in Maltese supermarkets.
I think that management does have an attitude problem. Often I heard visting Italian ” overseers” passing less then complimentary loud comments in Italian about the staff AND clients within earshot of the latter at one particular LIDL outlet.
I think that the cashiers have interpreted this as a “punishment”. Typical of employees who are not satisfied at their job.
Today the cashiers had their chairs and were using them. When I commented about this they said that “yesterday they were in the newspapers”.
My point was that, as very correctly pointed out by yourself, it is not that they are working standing up (many jobs have to executed standing up) but that this was done on a collective basis as a punishment.
The very fact that the chairs were returned should also mean that the Lidl management knew that they were in the wrong to take such an action.
All of us have to work to earn a living, but first and foremost we are human beings. And I am saying this from the point of view of an employer, albeit a small employer but still one.
Naqbel mieghek perfettament. This is a shame and must be investigated. Thanks for your contibution and also for Daphne for flagging it up.
Bravu Peter. Every lidl bit counts.
Yes. It sometimes helps when someone lifts the lidl on things, doesn’t it?
It is great news to know that Lidl admin took notice of what got said here and elsewhere.
The cashiers at the Ldil supermarkets I frequent (Luqa, Santa Venera, Bir id-Deheb, San Gwann and Kirkop) are always seated. Perhaps I live in a different country or I go to a different Lidl chain.
Maybe you haven’t been during the period of time when the employees were being “punished” .
Lidl’s Fair Trade, respect for dolphins and other marine species and the where is the respect for the employees. All bluff.
No one from LIDL’s management wrote any comments in this blog. Are they so cowards?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111026/local/Lidl-probing-allegations-of-cashiers-left-standing-behind-tills-for-hours.390790