After months of speculation, it has been official since Monday: 52 of the remaining 129 Galeria branches are to close.
The final number of closures, which the company says will affect around 4,000 employees, is higher than the estimate of “over 40 branches” that Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof had recently targeted. However, the number is also lower than the 90 houses that media reports predicted in late December. The group also does not rule out a rethinking of individual branches planned for closure, a company spokesman told the German Press Agency on Tuesday in Essen.
“This is a pitch-black day,” said Galeria’s general works council, and the announcement yesterday afternoon also triggered strong emotions among the employees of the department store group. “There were a lot of tears yesterday,” reported Anja Sabrowski, member of the works council at the location in Gelsenkirchen on Tuesday morning on the WDR radio station. When you found out about the plans in a conference call, it was “like a punch in the stomach”. It is a turning point in life, said Sabrowski. Many colleagues have been with the company for a very long time and are “family ties”. Voices are not only speaking up within the group, but also in politics and on social networks the end of the 52 branches is being commented on and criticized.
Allegations against Galeria Economics Minister Robert Habeck regretted the announced
Closing of the department stores of the group. The decision is difficult for the employees concerned, said the Green politician on Monday on the sidelines of a visit to Brazil. Now it will be the task of the social partners to find a solution that makes it as easy as possible for the people affected to find a new job, according to Habeck. The Dortmund Greens spoke up on Twitter and shared a statement by the politician Hannah Rosenbaum. “The Galeria-Karstadt-Kaufhof management has once again completely failed, and that at the expense of the employees. We are in solidarity with all employees,” says Rosenbaum, who has been part of the Dortmund district board since December 2020.
The co-group leader of the left, Dietmar Bartsch, struck a similar note in relation to the editorial network Germany. The politician described the closures as a tragedy and particularly criticized the owner René Benko. “Benko failed,” he said. “From the supposed department store rescuer to the branch manager and bouncer. There are doubts as to whether Benko was ever concerned with Galeria and not always with his real estate business first,” says Bartsch. He also turned to Habeck, because, according to him, he now “must finally intervene and become an advocate for the employees”.
Minister of Labor promises support for Galeria employees
Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil is already looking to the future and is counting on as many employees as possible finding new jobs. According to Galeria, a transfer company will be set up to support people with a professional reorientation, and the SPD politician welcomes this step. “I would have liked to be able to avoid layoffs for operational reasons. If that’s not the case, that’s the right tool,” said Heil on Monday evening on the ARD program “Hart aber fair”.
He describes the closure plans as “damn bitter news, also for many inner cities.” Sometimes employees have to pay for wrong entrepreneurial decisions from the past. “But I also say to the employees from this point: We will use the possibilities that we have if such an agreement for a transfer company comes about, with the Federal Employment Agency, to help that – wherever possible – people find connections .”
“We stand behind the employees and their legitimate concern to keep their branches and thus their jobs,” said Nasser Ahmed, Deputy General Secretary of the SPD in Bavaria and Chairman of the SPD Nuremberg, on Twitter. In Nuremberg, two of the three Galeria locations are to be closed. “The hard-working workers must not be the pawns of management mistakes,” said Ahmed.
Resentment and the question of “guilt” in the media and social networks
The management errors mentioned by Ahmed, the new restructuring plan and the upcoming job cuts are also hotly debated in various media and on social networks. “Continue the same concept, which has already gone bankrupt several times, and actually think that it will be better this time. Without innovation, without reforms, even state aid doesn’t help,” comments Green Party politician Gollaleh Ahmad on Galeria Kaufhof’s restructuring plan, which, in addition to the store closures, is based, among other things, on the modernization of the remaining branches. “When was the last time you bought something from Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof?” asked Twitter user @PetrusCostals. The question is quite justified, because ARD correspondent Michael Heussen also puts it in a comment in the daily topics. “There is a risk of vacancies, further business closures, entire shopping streets falling into disrepair. But if you now shed tears of pity: When was the last time you were in your inner city? When did you buy something bigger there?” In the comments below the video clip, which was shared on the Twitter account of the ARD Tagesthemen, there is a discussion – is the blame on the consumers, on politicians, on the cities or is it the Galeria owner Benko?
An answer to the question cannot be found in the comments, but Twitter user @Philippopulus1 summarizes the situation in a post with the following words: “If you don’t keep up with the times, you have to keep up with the times”. Other users, on the other hand, seem to see the situation humorously. “Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof is closing a good half of its branches,” writes @Mett_Salat on Twitter. “Many of them almost fell on their feet in shock from the Amazon box.” (dpa/FashionUnited)