Status: 03/27/2023 10:42 a.m
Employees of Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof fear for their jobs and many cities are threatened with vacancy. But former Kaufhof employees from Essen show that there is a future even after a closure.
This Monday is once again a fateful day for the employees of Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. The creditors’ meeting is to decide whether to accept the restructuring plan. For those to whom the department store group owes money, that would be a hard cut: they would have to waive most of their claims. If they don’t do that, bankruptcy would have to be filed, all branches would face closure – and not just the 49, whose closure was announced in February.
Kaufhof employees find new perspectives
Regina Brdenk and Ulrich Barthel from Essen know how many of their former colleagues feel now. Because the two were in the same situation two years ago. Their branch in Essen was closed and they both thought that was it, they wouldn’t be able to find a new job in their late 50s.
But they are now employed by the city of Essen, taking care of public concerns such as vehicle registrations or registration certificates in the service center. “I’m happy every morning because we got this chance,” says Regina Brdenk. “I have unbelievably nice colleagues. Of course, I had that before. But the team is right here too, and it’s always a pleasure to come here.”
From closure to restart
It is a change in professional life that you would not have thought possible for a long time. Ulrich Barthel worked for Kaufhof for more than 40 years, most recently as a works council member in Essen. Her new colleagues at the city of Essen find this long professional experience enriching. “They got to know working life very differently than it is in the public sector. That’s a very good mix,” says a colleague.
And the city’s Human Resources Director, Annabelle Brandes, is also happy about the new employees, because she is desperately looking for staff: “These people are incredibly communicative, sometimes also capable of conflict and bring a high degree of empathy. And the most important thing: they have a lot of fun working with people, working for people and also advising them on their concerns and helping them further.”
Location concepts instead of vacancies
In Essen, they hope that their example will also catch on in other cities and that employees will find new jobs as quickly as possible. But in many locations, things are not that far yet. For example, last week in Kempten in the Allgäu, 50 employees demonstrated at a meeting organized by ver.di for the preservation of the Kaufhof, whose closure has already been decided.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, the Minister for Homeland, Municipal Affairs, Building and Digitization, Ina Scharrenbach, launched a five million euro program to provide the affected municipalities with immediate aid for location concepts. Because if the department store disappears as a shopping magnet, the cities are threatened with vacancies in the adjacent shops – and with it even more jobs that will be lost.
New shopping concept creates jobs
They have already counteracted this in Essen. A new shopping mall with a multifunctional concept is being created in the former Kaufhof building: a mix of gastronomy and grocery shopping and several pop-up stores with changing offers – and many new job offers.
Regina Brdenk and Ulrich Barthel no longer need it because they have found a job in the city administration. But they are happy that the end of the department store does not necessarily mean a catastrophe for the city centers and the employees. Because even in their late 50s, they both found new, fulfilling jobs.