Poland's Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, known as UOKiK, has fined the owner of the Biedronka supermarket chain, 29 transport companies and eight individuals nearly 572 million zlotys, about 131.6 million euros, for running a labour market conspiracy that restricted delivery drivers from freely changing employers.
The illegal scheme ran from June 2017 until at least February 2024, UOKiK said. Jeronimo Martins Polska, the company that owns Biedronka, took part in the arrangement together with a network of transport companies that carried goods to the chain's distribution centres.
UOKiK found that the hauliers serving Biedronka's distribution centres agreed not to compete with one another for drivers and not to hire employees who worked for other companies caught up in the scheme.
How drivers were blocked from switching jobs
To move to another company, a driver first needed the consent of their previous employer. If that employer refused, the worker was effectively placed on a blacklist and temporarily barred from working at a specific Biedronka distribution centre. Depending on the centre, the restriction could last several months.
UOKiK said Jeronimo Martins Polska organised the agreement and oversaw compliance with it. The company acted as an intermediary for exchanging information between the firms involved and blocked access passes for drivers who changed jobs without permission, the regulator said.
Biedronka benefited from the arrangement, according to UOKiK, because the absence of competition for workers held back growth in driver wages and in transport rates. Agreements between employers not to hire from one another, sometimes called no-poach deals, are treated by competition regulators across the European Union as a form of collusion because they restrict workers' bargaining power in the same way that price-fixing restricts consumers.
Poland's biggest supermarket chain
Biedronka is Poland's largest supermarket chain by revenue and the most popular chain among shoppers for everyday purchases. It is owned by Jeronimo Martins Polska, a subsidiary of the Portuguese retail group Jeronimo Martins. By the end of 2024, the chain had 3,730 stores in more than 1,000 towns and cities across Poland, and the company had planned to open between 130 and 150 new stores in the country in 2025.
Regulator's response
Tomasz Chrostny, the head of UOKiK, said employees had the right to seek higher pay and better conditions, and that a conspiracy depriving them of that right violated the basic principles of fair competition. He said such practices had to be resolutely removed from the market.
The total fines imposed came to 571.96 million zlotys. The largest single penalty, 525.54 million zlotys, almost 120 million euros, was levied against Jeronimo Martins Polska. Eight individuals directly involved in the illegal arrangements were also fined, among them owners, partners and managers of several of the transport companies.
The European Commission reviewed the decision and fully agreed with the Polish regulator's findings on the competition breach, according to UOKiK.
Second penalty in under a year
This is not the first time Biedronka's owner has faced sanctions from Polish authorities in recent months. In December 2025, Poland's antimonopoly authority punished Biedronka for misleading consumers, fining Jeronimo Martins Polska almost 105 million zlotys, or more than 24 million euros.
