A breakthrough has been achieved in the weeks-long dispute over an arbitration board for the Zalando logistics center in Erfurt, which is threatened with closure. The company announced upon request in Berlin that a settlement had been reached with the works council. He is ending the ongoing legal proceedings. The works council confirmed the comparison.
Negotiations on the reconciliation of interests and the social plan could begin next week, said company spokesman Christian Schmidt. This would save those involved from further legal proceedings. The conciliation board was actually supposed to be heard before the state labor court on June 3rd.
Negotiations until June 20th
According to the Zalando spokesman, the settlement also stipulates that negotiations will initially take place outside of a conciliation body. If no agreement is reached by June 20th, the conciliation board would be set up on June 23rd. According to Schmidt, there is now a binding timetable for the talks. The aim is to keep the period of uncertainty for the workforce as short as possible.
A spokeswoman for the works council said that negotiations without a conciliation body had fulfilled a key demand of the employee representatives. “We are pleased that Zalando has now responded to our request.” Up to three hearings per week are planned in the near future. According to information from the State Chancellery and the works council, the logistics center’s employee representatives met with Prime Minister Mario Voigt (CDU) in Erfurt on Friday.
2,000 employees still working at Zalando Erfurt
The labor court had decided to set up a conciliation board, and the works council then appealed to the state labor court. Labor law provides for conciliation bodies to act as arbitration bodies in companies when the works council and the employer cannot agree on important issues.
Zalando wants to close the logistics center with which the online fashion retailer grew up in September. The conflict has been simmering since the beginning of the year. Of the around 2,700 employees at the time, around 2,000 are currently still in the company, according to the works council. Several hundred employees’ fixed-term contracts have now expired
