management will “propose solutions” in other Mulliez brands

Auchan announced at the end of 2024 a social plan threatening 2,400 jobs in France, and including site closures.

“We are working to offer solutions” reclassification for employees of the distributor Auchan whose employment is threatened by a social plan “in all other brands” of the Mulliez galaxy, Auchan boss Guillaume Darrasse assured the National Assembly on Wednesday January 22. Auchan, rather considered one of the good students of large food distribution in terms of employee rights, has experienced for several years a “difficult economic situation”declared Guillaume Darrasse before the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Assembly.

The latter had summoned him in the same way as several business leaders who had announced job cuts in recent months. Auchan announced at the end of 2024 a social plan threatening 2,400 jobs in France, and including site closures. The northern brand is part of the Mulliez galaxy, of which other brands such as Decathlon or Leroy Merlin are in much better financial health.

Decathlon recently paid a billion euros in dividends to the Mulliez family, which scandalized several union organizations within the various brands including Kiabi, Flunch, Boulanger and Norauto. Staff representatives, some of whom demonstrated on Wednesday morning at the invitation of the CGT in front of the National Assembly, called for the reclassification of Auchan employees whose jobs are threatened in other brands owned by the Mulliez Family Association (AFM).

Questioned on the subject by parliamentarians, Guillaume Darrasse responded by recalling that “the AFM is not a group in the legal sense of the term”. That being said, he continued, “we are working to offer solutions in all other brands”even if “it is not mechanical and automatic in the legal sense of the term”. He ensures in particular that “internal digital solutions” allow employees to access “all positions available in these brands”.