FRANKFURT (AFP) - Employees of KarstadtQuelle, the ailing German department store chain, were scheduled to hold meetings at sites all across the country to discuss management's massive restructuring plans that could affect up to one job in every five within the group.
The giant services sector union Ver.di said that a meeting was already underway in Berlin and in the north eastern city of Wismar. Similar meetings were scheduled to be held at other sites around the country.
On Tuesday, KarstadtQuelle unveiled plans to sell nearly half of its stores, sell-off non-core activities, and seek an injection of fresh capital from shareholders in a bid to overcome a financial crisis sparked by chronically weak consumer demand in Germany and the group's own misfired diversification strategy.
Ver.di, which had said that more than 20,000 employees from a total workforce of nearly 100,000 could be affected by the drastic cost-cutting plans, had sharply criticised the measures and promised to fight them.