The Karstadt-Kaufhof group is in crisis. This is of great concern to the employees in Kassel.
- The Karstadt-Kaufhof group is in crisis.
- Many department stores are said to close.
- Also to the branch in kassel the workers are worried.
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kassel – The 130 employees of the Galeria Kaufhof in Kassel on further developments in the crisis-ridden Karstadt-Kaufhof group. The group is threatened with a massive clear cut, more than a third of the 172 department stores nationwide are to be closed during the upcoming renovation. The company plans to announce further details at the beginning of June.
The Kassel Kaufhof works council sees reason to hope that the local house on Oberen Königsstrasse is not on the strike list. Nevertheless, the uncertainty is immense, said works council chief Manfred Schollmeyer on Friday after a works meeting. Because regardless of the location issue, further austerity measures would probably also affect those employees who are not directly affected by job cuts.
Kaufhof in Kassel: is the company taking advantage of the corona crisis?
This is also how the Verdi union sees it. “We get the impression that the management in Essen is the one Corona crisis wants to use so that it can push through things within the framework of insolvency law that would otherwise not have been possible under the collective agreement, ”says Verdi Secretary Manuel Sauer.
It was only in December 2019 that Verdi and the group signed a reorganization collective agreement, which provides for a waiver of wages against job security. Since April Galeria Karstadt-Kaufhof in a protective shield procedure, that is an insolvency preliminary stage in self-administration. If it became a real bankruptcy from July, “workers could be sent into unemployment very quickly,” Sauer fears.
Kassel: Concern about Kaufhof branch – Mayor wants to support employees
What legally follows from the different forms of insolvency was the subject of the works meeting on Friday morning (29 May 2020). The 80 or so participants gathered outside on the parking deck of the Kaufhof due to the Corona clearance rules, so the department store opened a little later.
Kassel Mayor Christian Geselle also took part in the event. He promised himself politically for the continued existence of the Branch of the Karstadt-Kaufhof group in Kassel want to use that is “an integral part of the city center”. Geselle expressed understanding of the situation of the trade, which was hard hit by the corona effects. Now, however, “creativity instead of clear cutting is required to master this difficult time together,” he said. The city of Kassel is “close to the Kaufhof employees”.
Kaufhof in Kassel: Black balloons for a depressed mood
Works council chief Schollmeyer expects from those responsible in the group “that we be presented with a viable concept” of how the protective shield procedure can proceed. Already in the collective agreement from the end of 2019 it was stipulated that employees and trade unionists should be “extensively involved in the strategic company development”.
After the meeting, workers left the Branch of the Karstadt-Kaufhof group in Kassel Black balloons rise to the sky on the Opera Square in front of the Kaufhof. They expressed the depressed mood that prevailed over the Pentecost days among the workforce.
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