Status: 08.04.2023 6:18 p.m
The employees of the Galeria group have stopped work in 19 branches during a day-long warning strike. The top management considers the strikes to be illegal and is threatening the consequences.
The workforce at Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof went on strike in a total of 19 branches in Hamburg, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse. The trade union ver.di had called for all-day warning strikes. Despite the protest, shops remained open, albeit with limited activity.
According to information from the “Hamburger Abendblatt”, around 200 employees from various branches gathered at a central rally on Herbert-Wehner-Platz in front of the Galeria department store in Harburg. Hamburg’s Finance Senator Andreas Dressel appealed to corporate responsibility and promised help to mitigate the consequences of job losses and unemployment.
Strikes over collective bargaining
The financially ailing group recently presented a restructuring plan that has already been approved by the creditors. It provides for the closure of 47 of the 129 branches nationwide – a total of around 4,000 jobs are to be cut. However, Ver.di does not justify the strikes with the planned layoffs, but with deadlocked collective bargaining for the approximately 17,000 employees. Among other things, the union demands the recognition of the regional collective bargaining agreements in the retail trade.
“The workforce has been investing money in the restructuring of the company for many years and forgoes up to 5,500 euros every year,” said Lattekamp. The anger and disappointment of the employees are very great. The management had recently ruled out a return to the collective agreement and called for more flexible working hours. “Our response to these outrageous plans are the first regional warning strikes.”
Management threatens consequences
The Galeria board had criticized the plans for warning strikes. “The planned strike measures are obviously illegal and threaten to cause ruinous damage for which you would be held liable,” wrote group boss Miguel Müllenbach and Galeria chief representative Arndt Geiwitz to the ver.di leadership. The letter was available to the Business Insider portal. Both bosses reminded that Galeria is still in bankruptcy proceedings and an “existential crisis situation”.
According to the report by “Business Insider”, the group management describes the strike as illegal because it violates the integration and transition collective agreement and the principle of proportionality. He would also aim to disadvantage creditors and favor employees “by short-term collection of funds from the insolvency estate,” Geiwitz and Müllenbach wrote to ver.di. The ver.di bosses and the striking workers would be held personally liable for the resulting damage, it said.