The Verdi union has called on workers at Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, Ikea and Thalia to go on a all-day warning strike in the Berlin branches. “The employees at Galeria are committed to securing the location and jobs, the digitization collective agreement at Ikea, which has been in the air since 2020, and the return of the Thalia bookstores to the collective agreement,” the union announced on Tuesday.
In Berlin, two out of ten Galeria department stores are on the verge of collapse. According to the plans of the department store group, the locations in Charlottenburg (Wilmersdorfer Straße) and Wedding (Müllerstraße) should close at the end of January. “The Galeria employees are demanding the preservation of the Wilmersdorfer Strasse and Müllerstrasse locations, continued employment in another branch if the houses are renovated and the right to return to their reopened house,” said Verdi.
Meanwhile, the employees in the eight other houses were concerned about a “dramatic deterioration in their pay and other working conditions”. In the negotiations that have been going on since February, Verdi is demanding, among other things, the recognition of the regional collective bargaining agreements in the retail sector.
A strike rally is planned for Wednesday at 11 a.m. in front of the Galeria location on Wilmersdorfer Strasse. (dpa)