“German ministers plan economically unsound”

The merger of Kaiser's Tengelmann and the Edeka Group drags on. Until now it was unclear what would happen with the logistic warehouses after the merger. The ministerial authorization of the Minister for Economic Affairs Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) grants the decommissioning of logistics centers (3 percent of the employees).

The letter of the work council to Minister Gabriel on the bulletin board

The warehouse employees are still uncertain and fear for their jobs. The central logistic warehouse in Nieder-Olm (Rheinland-Pfalz) stepped up its attempts to prevent closure of their location. “The recently ministerial approval states that the decommissioning of logistic warehouses as an allegedly necessary measure of the merger,” says a work council spokesperson, “The work council of the central logistic warehouse in Nieder-Olm clearly has another opinion.”

In order to convince the ministers of the economic viability of their location the work council drafted a letter to the Ministry for Economic Affairs last Friday. In this letter Gabriel is told that the central warehouse of Kaiser's Tengelmann is run economically and efficiently. "Gabriel should make the continuation of the central warehouse a condition of the ministerial authorization of the fusion of Edeka/Tengelmann. Especially since Edeka is planning to expand the logistic of the operations,” states a work council member from Nieder-Olm.

The staff of the central warehouse came to the meeting with posters and signs

“The continuation of stores that run at a loss and the butchers’ by Edeka is a part of the ministerial authorization,” continues the work council, “However the economically sound and profitable warehouses can be closed by Edeka according to the minister. The minister’s plan is economically unsound, not only for the employees of the warehouses but for Edeka also. And there are not only economical reasons but also social and public reasons. ‘The preservation of jobs and their conditions’ and the minister should protect all 16,000 employees equally from Edaka’s plans of the closure of the locations.”

The letter of the work council to Minister Gabriel was posted on the bulletin board in the central logistic warehouse: The content in PDF.