Turbulences in the Mulliez family empire. In front of the Auchan store in Fontenay-sous-Bois (Val-de-Marne), in the Paris suburbs, some 200 activists responded to the CGT's call to block the hypermarket this Wednesday morning. The cause of the grievances, a billion euros in dividends paid from the sports brand Decathlon when 2,389 jobs are threatened in the Auchan brands, while the two brands belong to the same group: the Mulliez Family Association (AFM). In the galaxy of the latter, very mainstream stores such as Leroy Merlin, Kiabi, Flunch, Boulanger and Norauto. “How can we condone that Decathlon, a brand of the group, can pay a huge sum of dividends and that Auchan, a brand of the same group, can massacre the lives of thousands of people by eliminating 2,400 jobs? », asked the CGT Services on Tuesday.
The president of the sporting goods brand Decathlon, Fabien Derville, justified the payment by this company of a billion euros in dividends to the Mulliez family, emphasizing, in an interview published this Wednesday to our colleagues at The Voice of the Norththat the objective was “a more value-creating use, not wealth”, while recognizing that “the momentum was not ideal at the media level”. The president, also a member of the AFM management board, did not want to detail the planned use of the funds, indicating only that “the vocation is entrepreneurial”: “new professions, acceleration of our core companies and where appropriate support for transformation”.
“In shock”
But the CFDT Decathlon, “in shock”, considered that this sum was “out of proportion” in view of the results not achieved by the company. She “calls on the brand’s 20,000 employees to mobilize and strike” on Saturday in stores. “All the Mulliez group brands are very angry, it’s shameful,” protested the central CFDT delegate at Auchan France, René Carette.
The announcement of these dividends comes a few weeks after that of the vast job cuts planned at Auchan. A total of 2,389 jobs are at risk as the food distributor continues its difficult exercises. Social negotiations, which have already started, have enabled the CFDT services federation to request that reclassifications be made within other companies in the Mulliez galaxy. According to a source close to Auchan, the brand does its utmost to facilitate the relationship between its employees and AFM companies,” “based on the geographic areas, qualifications and skills sought.”
What about public money?
Unions are also questioning the merits of certain public aid for businesses, with the CFDT calling for the creation of a commission of inquiry.
Attacked by Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who said he wanted to “know” what Auchan and another group planning job cuts, Michelin, “did with the public money that was given to them”, the distributor had assured that its reduction in charges under the CICE (tax credit for competitiveness and employment), of 83 million euros each year between 2013 and 2018, had been “fully used for the objectives targeted by this system “. He said he had also “paid 258 million in taxes (excluding taxes collected: VAT, alcohol taxes, TICPE) and 607 million euros in social charges for the employer's share”.
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