Verdi calls in the negotiations that have been ongoing since February, among other things, the recognition of the regional collective bargaining agreements of the retail trade, it was said according to the message. A few weeks ago, the company had deep cuts in its branch network. Numerous houses are to be closed, some are to be operated by new investors. announced that six branches in Baden-Württemberg are affected by the closures.

As Verdi announced, the workers wanted to increase the pressure in the deadlocked wage negotiations for the nationwide approximately 17,000 employees of the insolvent group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof with the warning strike.

In eight Hessian Galeria branches, employees are laying down their work this Saturday. The houses would still be able to open, said union secretary Matthias Schäfer on Saturday. In branches in Frankfurt, Sulzbach, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt and Viernheim is to be striked all day. The restructuring plan approved by the creditors provides for the closure of seven department stores in Hesse. Smaller and duplicate sites are particularly affected. Eight department stores, on the other hand, are to be continued.

Demo in Hamburg

In Hamburg, on the other hand, the employees of all Hamburg Galeria department stores have gone on an all-day warning strike. Verdi deputy Heike Lattekamp said that there were already failures in the preparatory service. However, she assumes that the department stores will open at 10.00 a.m. However, there will be no normal operation, Lattekamp said.

According to Verdi, the strikers first meet in front of the department stores. At 12.30 p.m. a joint rally is planned in front of Galeria Harburg. Among others, Hamburg's Finance Senator Andreas Dressel (SPD) is expected to speak.

The restructuring plan for Galeria, approved by the creditors, stipulates that only three of the five department stores will remain in Hamburg - namely the department stores in Mönckebergstraße, in the Alstertal shopping centre and in Osterstraße in Eimsbüttel. The houses in Harburg and Wandsbek will be closed on 30 June.

In the southwest, according to Verdi, the employees of the branches in Stuttgart (Königstraße and Eberhardstraße), Mannheim, Heidelberg (Hauptstraße), Heilbronn and Esslingen are affected by the warning strike.

47 branches to close

A total of 47 of Germany's 129 department stores are to close. Affected were 4000 employees in the branches and 300 employees in the Essen headquarters, it said.

It is already the second attempt to bring the retail giant back on the road to success through a protective shield procedure and the associated debt haircut. A first attempt had been started in 2020 during the first corona lockdown. Despite the closure of around 40 branches, the reduction of about 4000,<> jobs and the cancellation of more than two billion euros in debt, he had brought only temporary relief to the company.