Collective bargaining continues at the insolvent department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. Representatives of the Verdi union and management will meet again this Wednesday in the branch on Frankfurt’s Zeil shopping street. It is about the approximately 17,400 remaining employees of the insolvent department store group, which is struggling to survive under self-administration.
It is still unclear how many of the 129 branches will be retained or sold and how many stores will be permanently closed. Verdi demands more detailed information on the strategy and calls for the employees to return to the collective agreement for the retail sector. After the first bankruptcy in 2020, the employees had already waived their salary in a restructuring collective agreement. According to Verdi, Galeria only wants to continue to pay the reduced salaries. After the first round, the company announced that the claims could not be reconciled with the insolvency plan.
The talks are taking place against the background that further deep cuts are imminent at the insolvent department store group under self-administration. At the beginning of the month, the district court in Essen opened new insolvency proceedings for the state-backed retail giant. Galeria submitted an insolvency plan with details of the restructuring concept to the court. (dpa)