The Mulliez Group, which owns the Auchan chain of large-format stores, presented on Tuesday to employee representatives its proposed layoff plan, which covers a total of 2,389 jobs in France. The company justified its plans with financial problems, the AFP agency reported.
In their announcements, the company's management stated that they hoped to reduce the number of layoffs by providing support to interested employees, retraining and a voluntary departure program. Auchan, which employs approximately 54,000 people, plans to eliminate some positions in its stores, e.g. equipment sales advisor, payroll planning and management manager, and safety manager.
– It's disastrous. Many employees, and therefore many families, will find themselves in a difficult situation. It's shocking, scandalous – said Franck Martineau, delegate of the FO (Force Ouvriere) trade union headquarters at Auchan Retail, in an interview with the media, after receiving information about the exact scale of employment reduction.
Question about public subsidies
– The Mulliez Group is in the process of destroying jobs in Europe France – said Leon Deffontaines, spokesman of the French Communist Party, in an interview with the public broadcaster Franceinfo. French Prime Minister Michel Barnier referred to the plans of the Mulliez group and the tire manufacturer Michelin, which is also planning to reduce employment, during Tuesday's session of the National Assembly. In his speech, he referred to the financial assistance provided to companies by the state in recent years. – I want to know what these groups did with the public money we gave them (…). So we will ask questions and see whether this money was used well or badly, so that we can draw conclusions from it, said the Prime Minister.
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