Karstadt Darmstadt: Employees have to fear

DARMSTADT / VIERNHEIM – (ain). A tug of war for the future of the Karstadt and Kaufhof department stores has been going on for years. Once again, the around 3,000 employees in Hessen have to fear for their jobs, but it has never been as serious as it is now. Half of the 170 houses of Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof in Germany are to be closed as part of a protective shield procedure. The renovation program should be completed in a few weeks, by June 30. The company employs more than 300 people in southern Hesse, in the two houses in Darmstadt and in the Karstadt branch in Viernheim. And many of them could lose their jobs overnight, even though there is seven months’ protection against dismissal. The protective shield procedure means that bankruptcy conditions apply. “This could also give notice of termination immediately,” says Horst Gobrecht, trade union secretary for trade at Verdi in southern Hesse. He cites Schlecker’s bankruptcy as an example. The union informed about this in company meetings. Many employees were not clear about this, said Gobrecht.

But give in small and let things come to you – the employees don’t want that. “We are fighting for the preservation of jobs,” says a fire letter from the works council to the Mayor of Darmstadt Jochen Partsch (Greens). One is convinced that the entire inner-city retail and gastronomy profited from both houses. They want to continue to do this in the future.

The works councils want to make their voices heard and hope for support. The SPD Darmstadt and Darmstadt-Dieburg as well as the employee representatives of the SPD (AfA) have already guaranteed this. The Verdi union wants to exert its influence up to the federal government.