Immediately before the creditors’ meeting of the department store group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, which belongs to the Signa Holding of the Tyrolean investor Rene Benko, the Verdi union appealed to all those responsible to give the department store and its employees a future. “There is a lot of potential. The new management must use this, also and above all in the interests of the employees,” said Verdi Federal Executive Stefanie Nutzberger of the German Press Agency.
This is about people, livelihoods and jobs. “Galeria and the owner bear social responsibility for them,” said Nutzberger.
The most important item on the agenda of the creditors’ meeting is the vote on the insolvency plan drawn up by the company’s management, which is intended to point the way to the recovery of the department store giant. According to media reports, the company management is demanding that landlords, suppliers and other creditors waive claims of more than one billion euros in order to give the group a fresh start. In addition, 47 of the last 129 department stores are to be closed and thousands of jobs eliminated as part of the renovation.
Despite all the hardships, acceptance of the insolvency plan is considered likely. Because in this way the creditors can hope to get at least a small part of their money back. If the insolvency plan is rejected, on the other hand, according to insolvency experts, there is a threat of the end for the group and possibly a total loss of the receivables.
Nutzberger emphasized: “Galeria has a future if the employees are taken along: A digital stationary department store of the future needs their experience, their qualifications, their social skills in dealing with customers. We expect that all those responsible act in this spirit. ” She reiterated that the union will fight for every job.