The Verdi union has spoken out against further store closures at the insolvent department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. The renewed bankruptcy is absolutely bitter for the employees and their families, said Verdi board member Silke Zimmer in Berlin. They are once again “faced with an absolutely uncertain future”. The department store group has been on the right track in recent months. Christmas business also went well.
Zimmer demanded “that Galeria must be preserved as a whole if possible.” Above all, this requires that rents at individual locations be significantly reduced. Zimmer objected to the number of the remaining 92 department stores being further reduced. “The branch structure has already been extremely reduced,” she said.
After the previous bankruptcy, the department store group had to close around 40 branches. The last 18 of them will close later this month. Germany’s last large department store group had filed for bankruptcy for the third time in three and a half years as a result of the difficulties faced by its owner Signa. Now the department store chain wants to get started again with a new owner. (dpa)