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Wal-Mart workers in
Germany face mass unemployment as Metro wants to close stores
Over 2,000 workers face unemployment and insecurity if Metro goes ahead with its plans to close a large number of the Wal-Mart stores which the German commerce giant bought last year. Hundreds of them will gather today outside the Metro Group headquarters in Düsseldorf, to defend their employment. In Germany, the group employs some 140,000 workers in its retail and wholesale store chains. These include the Metro Cash & Carry wholesale hypermarkets, the Real and Extra hyper- and supermarkets, the Kaufhof department stores and the MediaMarkt - Saturn electronics superstores. What the German Wal-Mart workers want and need is quite simple: Retaining their employment within the Metro Group. As of yet, the company has not signalled any preparedness for this although it would have realistic possibilities to employ the displaced Wal-Mart employees in its other stores and workplaces. Many of these stores are regularly using temporary employment agencies, which shows that there is a need for staff. The Wal-Mart worker representatives and their trade union ver.di underline that when the Metro Group bought Wal-Mart, they also took the responsibility for its workers. The negotiations and the deal itself were credited to Metro AG, the Group, and not to the Real hypermarket chain, where the remaining stores will be integrated. Therefore it is the whole group that has to bear the responsibility for the workers that it took over from Wal-Mart.
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