The Dutch fashion company C&A, which has been reorganising its network of stores for a number of years and has been based in France for more than 50 years, recently revealed a new project that might potentially affect over 300 jobs. The General Confederation of Trade Unions, or CGT, has expressed disapproval of the new workforce reduction plan, which was announced to its workers on 14th March. In a press release, the CGT laments the ‘progressive dismantling’ that has resulted in the loss of about 800 jobs in recent years.
C&A is restructuring its network of directly owned stores and intends to close 24 that are facing ‘structural difficulties’ in order to ‘improve its competitiveness’ in a dwindling ready-to-wear market, the company revealed. Additionally, it is anticipated that all 57 of the brand’s ‘corners’—points of sale in France that are hosted by other businesses—will experience the same outcome ‘because the partnerships with the buyers Intermarché, Carrefour, and Auchan could not be renewed.’
Lastly, the reorganisation initiative will have an impact on the Seine-et-Marne distribution centre and its employees, as the amount of products sold is expected to decline. Management promised that a very extensive social support package, including ideas for redeployment and support measures, will be prepared with employee representative organisations over the next few weeks.
According to the company, which presently employs 1,500 people and operates 100 stores in France, this approach attempts to secure the brand’s survival in a declining French apparel market where C&A France is having trouble despite prior changes. It is attempting, like others, to weather the dire crisis that has plagued the French ready-to-wear industry for a number of years.
