France: Carrefour brand sued over its social policy
This Monday, March 11, the CFDT union is suing the giant Carrefour.
The trade union organization criticizes the distributor for the sale of numerous supermarkets under lease management or franchising since 2017, a form of “local relocation”.
This social policy has very serious consequences for employees.
Atmosphere in a Carrefour hypermarket in Villeneuve-la-Garenne, in the northern suburbs of Paris (illustrative image).
AFP - THOMAS SAMSON
By: RFI Follow
Advertisement
Read more
More than 300 stores and 23,000 employees of the brand have left the workforce since the Carrefour group transferred many stores to management rental or franchising.
For the
distributor
which claims more than 5,000 supermarkets in France, this legal change allows it to maintain its commercial market share.
While freeing yourself from a certain number of expenses.
But this is not without consequences, for employees who lose on average 2,300 euros in annual social benefits, because they are no longer employed by a large group listed on the CAC 40. For the CFDT, this is a form of restructuring.
According to this union, the contracts concluded with the franchised companies “
do not allow sufficient results to be achieved
”.
As a result, “
the model imposed on franchisees and tenant-managers
ultimately weighs
on employees
” who become the only room for maneuver to improve the profitability of the store, estimates Sylvain Macé, national secretary of CFDT Services.
Damages and interests
The union is therefore asking the courts to put an end to this rental management or franchise management method, and 23 million euros in damages.
Another point bristles the unions: that this policy is carried out while Carrefour spends hundreds of millions of euros to remunerate its shareholders.
The distributor announced - for 2023 - a net profit of 1.66 billion euros for 94.1 billion euros in turnover.
It paid 481 million euros in dividends in 2023, and spent 802 million euros to buy back its shares.
A practice that is developing more and more in large-scale distribution.
Auchan, Leclerc, Intermarché and Système U are also transferring their stores to independents, to keep prices low and preserve their margins.
Report “Hard discount” supermarkets, a solution for more and more French people
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your inbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
Share :
Continue reading on the same themes:
Commerce and distribution
France
Social issues
Employment and Work
Company
Unions