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Local Round-Up: Online supermarket loses contract with another municipality

Ben Hamilton
June 23rd, 2021


This article is more than 3 years old.

Nemlig.com has been growing rapidly, but customers have concerns about its drivers (photo: Lav Ulv/Flickr)

Gentofte Municipality has terminated its contract with Nemlig.com with immediate effect, citing the online supermarket’s failure to provide information about the working conditions of subcontractors’ employees.

The decision was made at a meeting of the municipal council on Monday night, after dialogue between the business and the municipality failed to resolve the issue.

Nemlig.com has always maintained it cannot provide information about drivers because they are employed by subcontractors. 

In adherence with a belief in proper working conditions
The municipality suspects the employees in question have a “salary and terms of employment worse than what follows from the representative agreement in the area”.

“We are of the opinion that there must be proper conditions for the employees in the companies that are suppliers to our municipality. We are very clear about this when we start a collaboration,” explained Gentofte Mayor Michael Fenge.

“The decisive factor for the termination of the collaboration with Nemlig.com has been that the company has not wanted to document the working conditions with a subcontractor, even though it is a requirement in the work clause that has been signed.”

Under fire of late
Nemlig.com recently came under fire following a report in Politiken that claimed warehouse employees were bound to tough targets and rules regarding toilet breaks, and that it was not unusual to fire those who were not working quick enough.

In its defence, Nemlig.com argues it has been incredibly busy since the beginning of the pandemic, which resulted in the company declaring its first ever annual profit recently

When business suddenly picked up, it was necessary to hire 600 people in the space of a week.

Follows termination of Odense Municipality contract
Back in April, Odense Municipality terminated its contract with Nemlig.com for similar reasons, blaming the “poor working conditions” at the company. A TV2 report revealed that the municipality spent 1.47 million kroner on goods acquired from the company between March 2019 and 2021.

The TV2 report of the termination cited a survey carried out by online media outlet A4, which revealed that 40 Danish municipalities have a collaboration with the Intervare courier company, the owner of Nemlig.com, to deliver groceries to elderly, sick and disabled citizens.

Other municipalities – including Greve, Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Hillerød, Roskilde and Fredericia – were said to be close to reviewing their contracts.

And Nemlig.com is also under pressure from trade unions, including 3F, and politicians – most notably from Enhedslisten.


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