No seat closures announced for the moment, but a social plan. The management of the Casino Group and the representatives of the trio, which must take control of the group at the end of February 2024 (Daniel Kretinsky, Fimalac and the Attestor fund), announced to the unions, Tuesday, December 19, the implementation of a plan of protection of employment (PSE) in order to resize the group in terms of staff in offices and logistics after the sale of all of its hypermarkets and supermarkets.
The Casino Group announced on Monday that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with Intermarché and Auchan, in order to sell them 313 stores (representing a turnover of 3.6 billion euros in 2022, excluding gasoline) for a price of 1.35 billion euros. In other words, the distributor is preparing to sell almost all of its hypermarkets and supermarkets. Only 13 large stores in Corsica are not affected by this sale but they would be doomed to disappear, the unions have learned.
As for the owners of the 56 franchised stores under the Casino banner, they will subsequently determine whether or not they wish to join these brands in the fold of the two competitors. The Monoprix, Naturalia, Franprix and e-retailer CDiscount brands remain within the Casino Group.
Call for strike
“Everything is sold. All hypermarkets will leave on the 1ster May 2024 and all supermarkets on the 1ster June “declared Jean Pastor, CGT union delegate, “completely stunned” at the end of a three-hour meeting during which Casino explained that it had chosen the best offer socially, the best in terms of price, but also the most rational due to its links established in the purchase of goods with the Intermarché-Auchan duo.
Management assured employee representatives that local stores (Vival, Spar, Petit Casino, etc.), on which Carrefour had also made a takeover offer, were “still at the heart of the consortium’s strategy” and would not be sold. A next meeting with management is already planned for January 4, 2024 in Saint-Etienne.
Negotiations concerning the PSE should begin at the beginning of January 2024. This social plan will concern “a large number of employees, perhaps around 1,000 people”, says Mr. Pastor. Nearly 1,800 people work at the historic headquarters in Saint-Etienne and around 1,000 people at the headquarters in Vitry-sur-Seine, in Val-de-Marne (including employees dedicated to the Franprix brand). The logistics branch and its 12 warehouses employ 2,300 employees. Management has not mentioned plans to close one or more of the headquarters.
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