unions withdraw complaint on appeal after reaching agreement with management

The pressure is easing on Casino management. The staff representatives, who had appealed against the distributor's accelerated safeguard plan last March, withdrew on Wednesday November 13 after having reached full agreement with management, indicated the inter-union after a hearing at the Paris Court of Appeal. 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 it is recognized” and that a social component has been negotiated, “there was no longer any reason to appeal”he told AFP, without elaborating on the terms of the agreement negotiated with the management of the distributor of Saint-Etienne origin. The Court of Appeal must still deliver its deliberations next week, after having taken note of the withdrawal of the employee representatives.

Strategic reorientation

In the meantime, the current management of the distributor has not yet wished to comment. The new general manager Philippe Palazzi is due to unveil on Thursday November 14, during a press conference in Paris, his main directions for the future of the distributor. He intends to make the group one “champion of proximity” by developing franchise activity, a more profitable mode of operation for distributors who then do not have to assume certain operating costs.

Casino still had 200,000 employees worldwide at the end of 2022, including 50,000 in France. But he had grown in debt and, after having multiplied the sales, he had to restructure his debt in significant proportions. The first shareholder and previous manager Jean-Charles Naouri then had to hand over, and let Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky and his allies take control of the group. In the meantime, Casino has sold most of its large format stores, its historic activity, to its competitors Auchan, Intermarché and Carrefour. The distributor today employs less than 30,000 people even before a social plan currently being discussed and which threatens around 3,000 jobs according to the unions.