Stakeholders of the troubled distributor hope «finish negotiations by the end of July»according to general manager Philippe Palazzi.
Management and lawyers for employees of the struggling distributor Casino announced Thursday a “agreement in principle” regarding the terms of the job protection plan (PSE) currently being defined, and hope “finish negotiations by the end of July”, according to general manager Philippe Palazzi. The manager said he was satisfied with a “agreement in principle with the social partners”in particular on so-called supra-legal compensation and on reclassification leave.
The group announced this PSE at the end of April, which could affect 1,300 to 3,200 jobs within a group that now employs fewer than 30,000 people under the Monoprix, Franprix or Vival brands. He spoke at the end of a hearing at the Paris Court of Appeal, which was examining the distributor’s rescue plan, at the request of the employees. The central social and economic committee (CSEC) of Distribution Casino France (DCF), one of the main entities of the Casino group, had in fact appealed at the end of March the judgment of the Paris commercial court validating Casino’s accelerated rescue plan. This rescue, caused by the distributor’s debt that had become unsustainable and at the end of which the group fell into the hands of Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, did not respect “the law of collective procedures” in “the interests of employees”estimated the CSEC.
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Finally, there could be a “desire for appeasement with a reciprocal renunciation of any action” judicial in view of the agreement reached, explained at the end of the hearing one of the employees’ lawyers, Matthieu Boissavy. He was delighted with this “agreement concerning social measures in favor of employees, and in particular on supra-legal compensation (higher than the minimum required by law, Editor’s note) and reclassification leave”The appeal hearing has been adjourned, at the request of the employees, and will be held on Wednesday, September 25 at 9:30 a.m., in order to allow time for “formalize” the agreement thus reached.
