A sign of the uncertainties surrounding the future of Casino, the elected staff of the distributor have launched a procedure of “right to economic alert” in order to obtain clarification on the situation of the company, in financial difficulties. The representative trade union organizations agreed “unanimously” to promote this procedure, which reflects the concerns of employees and allows them to ask management for explanations.
An expert has been appointed in this context, AFP learned on Monday from three distributor unions employing 200,000 people worldwide, including more than 50,000 in France. The trade unions have “appointed an expert to go on a right of economic alert”, indicated Monday to AFP Nathalie Devienne, of the first organization of the group, SNTA-FO.
As part of this procedure, “two sheets of questions were given to the management” of Distribution Casino France (DCF), the entity where the activity of Casino in France is housed. This, in order to know in more detail the economic situation of the distributor of Saint-Etienne origin. “When we have the answers from management, we will trigger the right to alert procedure”, indicates Nathalie Devienne again.
Suitors’ Ball
“We have to go through it to trigger a possible right of alert”, explains for his part to AFP Jean-Luc Farfal, group delegate for the CFDT, concerned about “the debt” of the distributor, which is worth to him to have entered at the end of May in a procedure of renegotiation, known as conciliation, with its creditors. Frédéric Buisson, of the UNSA, also confirmed the launch of this procedure to AFP.
“During the CSEC meeting, it voted for an expert report on the store disposal project” at Intermarchés, “which could lead to a right to alert but to date this procedure has not been voted on” , told AFP the communication department of the Casino brands. For his part, the boss of the group Jean-Charles Naouri sent a letter to the employees on Monday, in which he assures of his “total determination to overcome this ordeal and preserve the interests of Casino”.
Casino’s Central Social and Economic Committee (CSEC) was convened on Monday to study the list of stores that will be sold to competitor Intermarché, the third largest supermarket chain in France. 57 stores must be sold by the end of the year, including 10 hypermarkets, according to information from the specialized media LSA confirmed Monday by several sources. However, the list may change following examination by the Competition Authority in particular.