At the insolvent department store group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, the management sees no scope for higher salaries. Management and the restructuring experts deployed had made it clear that payment under the retail collective agreement would be “financially impossible in the foreseeable future and inappropriate in terms of content”, said a company spokesman on Thursday. One strives for a “more suitable” department store collective agreement.
This Friday (10 a.m.) the collective bargaining talks for the approximately 17,400 remaining employees of the department store group will begin in Frankfurt. The Verdi union insists that after the failure of the first restructuring from 2020, the collective agreements should now apply again. At that time, the employees had agreed to a collective agreement as a contribution to the restructuring, which, according to Verdi, meant up to 5,500 euros less annual salary for a full-time employee. The insolvency money that had been paid in the meantime expired in January.
Verdi negotiator Marcel Schäuble criticized the restructuring plans: “Anyone who responds to the challenges with downsizing, branch closures and wage cuts has no concept for the future, but calls up a dark past,” said the trade unionist in a statement. Employees have already lost a lot of money due to inflation. This applies all the more to Kaufhof employees because of the drop in salary.
A few days ago, the Essen district court opened insolvency proceedings under self-administration for the former retail giant. It follows on from the previous protective shield procedure. Galeria submitted the insolvency plan with details of the restructuring concept to the court. The company is managed by the former management and by the insolvency expert Arndt Geiwitz as general representative. (dpa)