Paris (AFP)

The board of directors of Conforama, a week after the announcement of a vast social plan, dismissed Tuesday the director general of the group, which "increased tenfold" the concerns of the unions, one learned from representatives FO and CGT.

"The general manager Frank Deshayes was dismissed by the board of directors (CA) this (Tuesday) noon, we do not know the reasons," said Mouloud Hammour of FO, secretary of the central works council (CEC), confirming information from the Parisian.

The staff representatives on the council did not have time to sit because they were convened only "at 11:00" for a meeting "at noon to disembark Mr. Deshayes," said Abdelaziz Boucherit of the CGT .

This dismissal "is a snub for him and for us because he was one of the only people still loyal to the employees and he was fighting for us," regretted Mr. Hammour.

Henceforth, "there are more representatives of creditors on the board of directors, our fear is increased tenfold" because this departure "does not go in the direction of a resumption of the march of the company," said Mr. Boucherit . "We do not really believe in a recovery plan, Conforama is rather in the context of savings to be made on the payroll" to allow "creditors to find a little cash," he said.

Conforama, owned by the South African group Steinhoff, announced on July 2 the launch of a restructuring plan for the removal of 1,900 posts (about 9,000 currently), as well as the closure of 32 stores of Conforama brand and that of 10 Maison Dépôt stores.

This project must be detailed Thursday before the CCE of the group of furniture and appliances. This meeting will mark the opening of the information-consultation procedure for staff representatives.

Questioned Tuesday by AFP, the management only stressed that "there is only one plan", that "announced on July 2", to "straighten Conforama" and allow "the company does not lose more of money in two years ".

"This stimulus plan is far from enough.When you drastically reduce the workforce, when there are no interlocutors for customers, you can not hope for a recovery," said Mr. Boucherit. "The trust of suppliers has dwindled" and "the housing stock (group) is almost 100% secured," he added.

In addition, the unions were received Tuesday by the interministerial delegate for restructuring, we learned from the Ministry of Economy.

"All the representative trade union organizations were received" Tuesday in Bercy, after the leadership on Monday, said Hammour. "We expressed our anger and we asked them to have a very close look at the implementation of the social plan and accompanying measures," he said.

This meeting "did not reassure us about the role of the state", which said "have no leverage to put pressure on private companies," said Boucherit.

To explain the implementation of this restructuring plan, the leaders of Conforama invoke significant cumulative losses of "nearly 500 million euros" in France since 2013. The group has been owned since 2011 by Steinhoff, himself in financial difficulties.

The restructuring plan was originally to be presented on July 2 at the CCE. However, he had not been able to meet, as staff representatives refused to attend after the management had changed the venue of the meeting.

? 2019 AFP