Casino staff representatives, who had appealed against the distributor's accelerated safeguard plan in March, withdrew on Wednesday after reaching full agreement with management, the inter-union said on Wednesday following a hearing at the Paris Court of Appeal.
“There was no social component in the initial plan”
Employee representatives believed that the accelerated backup plan drawn up by the former management of the distributor and its buyers led by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinksy did not offer enough compensation to employees. The agreement with the current management “proves us right in the fact that there was no social component in the initial plan”, reacted Didier Marion, spokesperson for the distributor's inter-union association.
“From the moment this is recognized” and a social aspect, which had been the subject of an agreement in principle between employees and management at the end of June, was indeed negotiated, “there was no longer any reason to appeal,” indicated Didier Marion, without elaborating on the terms of the agreement negotiated with the management of the distributor of Saint-Etienne origin.
3,000 jobs would be affected
Formally, the Court of Appeal must still deliver its deliberations next week, after having taken note of the withdrawal of the employee representatives. In the meantime, the current management of the distributor did not wish to comment on Wednesday. This social plan could concern more than 3,000 positions, according to the unions.
The new general manager Philippe Palazzi is due to unveil his main directions for the future of the distributor on Thursday at a press conference in Paris.
Unsustainable debt
Casino still employed some 200,000 people worldwide at the end of 2022, including 50,000 in France, before increasing its sales. Its workforce fell below 30,000 employees even before the PSE currently under discussion.
The fall of Casino was precipitated by its debt which had become unsustainable. The rescue was taken over by a consortium led by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.
The group is refocused around smaller store brands, Monoprix, Franprix, Vival and Spar. Philippe Palazzi intends to make it a “champion of proximity” by developing franchise activity, a more profitable mode of store operation for distributors who then do not have to assume certain operating costs.
