“The impacts of the health crisis observed in recent months have greatly worsened the economic situation of collective catering”, alerted the National Union of Collective Catering (SNRC) in December. “The loss of turnover for all collective catering companies amounts to 1.5 billion euros for 2020”, estimates Esther Eklou-Kalonji. For the general delegate of the SNRC, “The 6,000 job cuts planned by Sodexo, Elior and Compass reflect what is happening in all companies in the sector”.
The job protection plan (PSE) announced by Sodexo in October 2020 provides for more than 2,000 job cuts, with a first phase of voluntary departures underway and retraining in the health sector. “The employees are rather worried. For the first departures, the only volunteers are employees close to retirement ”, specifies Sonia Porot, CGT departmental secretary general of Yvelines. Another tenor in the sector, the Elior group, also declared in October 2020 a PSE with 1,888 job cuts. Others finally did not make this choice – like Compass Group, despite a planned workforce reduction of 1,500 jobs – and are betting on long-term partial activity to absorb the gradual nature of the recovery after the Covid- 19.
“The story of this great upheaval begins on March 16, 2020. We had to close a large majority of our establishments and put employees in partial activity”, says Camille Berthaud, Managing Director of Eurest, a subsidiary of Compass specializing in corporate catering. Whether they are kitchen clerks, catering employees, pastry chefs, delivery drivers, cashiers, managers or restaurant managers, the use of partial activity has been massive for all trades.
Russian mountains
The decline in activity in the sector followed a roller coaster rhythm, guided by attendance at company canteens, with lows in March 2020, in August – a traditional slack period – then in November, during the second confinement, and again since the end of March, for the third confinement. “We are on average at 15-20% of restaurant occupancy at best, with very strong variations depending on the activity of the companies and the share of teleworking. The Hermès workshops are running at 80%, but Société Générale is at a maximum of 10% “, describes Laurent Corbasson, CGT delegate of Sodexo. The management of the group, also contacted, did not wish to speak.
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