Spanish trade unions sell out El Corte Inglés struggle
The trade unions of one of Europe’s largest retailers, El Corte Inglés, have accepted over 3,000 redundancies without even a semblance of a fight. They are now encouraging their members to voluntarily sign up to the redundancy scheme agreed with management.
This is the largest layoff so far this year, inaugurating a renewed onslaught on jobs not seen since the 2008 global economic crisis. It is estimated that big corporations are preparing over 23,000 redundancies in the coming months. This is on top of preparations for wage cuts, casualisation and layoffs after furlough schemes affecting 900,000 workers end in late May.
Spanish department store El Corte Inglés to slash 3,500 jobs
One of Europe’s largest retailers and an indicator of the Spanish economy, El Corte Inglés, has announced that it will slash 3,500 jobs, its largest job cut since its founding in Madrid in 1940. The proposal was submitted last week to the trade unions, who have already stated their readiness to accept job cuts this year amid mass unemployment.
Most El Corte Inglés stores closed only for six weeks during the total lockdown in the spring of 2020. Its supermarkets and online sales remained active during that period. Nonetheless, the company, with sales revenues of €15.267 billion, is justifying its latest decision by citing the economic impact of the virus.