“OWe were surprised, we thought they would wait until the end of year holidays at least to see if we straightened out the figures.”explains, stunned, Alain Virgona, CFDT union delegate at Auchan Grasse. Like all the group's staff representatives, he is summoned, this Wednesday, November 6, to an extraordinary CSE in his establishment, during which the announcements made this Tuesday in the central CSE of the group owned by the Mulliez family, in its stronghold of Lille. And like most of his fellow trade unionists of all persuasions, his phone has not stopped ringing for several hours.
Because even if according to the first elements communicated on the sidelines of the central CSE no hypermarket closure is planned in the South, the Var or the Alpes-Maritimes, no store will be spared by the reorganization of the brand, which seeks to stem the fall in its revenues, of 2.26 billion euros since 2012, and its market shares which fell from 12 to 8% over the same period.
2,400 job cuts
The “reconquest” plan announced by Guillaume Darrasse, the new CEO of the group since the end of August, would lead to nearly 2,400 job cuts for 319 creations, by placing the hypermarket, long pointed out as a source of costs, at the center of the game, but with big adjustments. Starting with the disappearance of certain professions, such as that of equipment sales sales advisor, or even safety manager.
And that’s what worries employees. “I have been a salesperson – sales advisor – for 23 years, and if I am offered a reclassification in another position today it will be complicated. But I have a mortgage and I cannot afford to lose my job. “details Greg Bartolomei, union delegate and elected CFDT at the CSE of the La Seyne hypermarket.
The 10,000m² store will see its surface area reduced by 2,000m² to integrate the neighboring drive, a measure announced for a long time and which fits with the other axis of development envisaged by the group: the drive teams will take charge of delivery to home, which is gaining momentum, with 114 positions created, but also the closure of the three warehouses previously dedicated to this delivery activity. The surface area allocated to non-food, in the La Seyne hypermarket, would bear the brunt of this reorganization. “If consumer electronics (EGP) goes from 1,000 to 300m², we suspect that we will not keep seven sales positions!” continues Greg Bartolomei.
“For years we have been warning”
His CGT comrade Jean-Paul Barbier has observed over the past 10 years an erosion of the workforce in the store, going from nearly 500 to less than 300 employees. “They told us that the reference was the Fréjus establishment; 168 employees for 8,300m²…” worries the union delegate who was also summoned to an extraordinary CSE this Wednesday in La Seyne. For the two staff representatives, “It is the employees who pay while for years we have been warning about bad strategic decisions.”
Like the deployment of automatic checkouts “Unknown markdowns, that is to say thefts, represented €74M in 2021 and today it is triple”specifies Greg Bartolomei. Above all, the emergence of this vast plan, only a few months after the absorption of nearly a hundred Casinos. “The CGT economic expert told us that Auchan was very ill and was buying a group that had cancer. Today we find ourselves in a situation close to Casino” continues Jean-Paul Barbier.
In addition to the reorganization, the pooling of the support functions of Auchan France, Auchan International and the international product management will have an impact on 784 positions, and three hypermarket closures (Clermont-Ferrand Nord, Woippy, Bar-le-Duc ) have already been announced, as well as six hyper-proximity stores whose locations are not yet known, which represents nearly 500 positions. Staff representatives should have more details during a new central CSE scheduled for November 13, 14 and 15. The difficult period of negotiating the conditions of this vast PSE will then begin, including a phase of voluntary departures.
