V&D scraps wage reduction but still wants cost cuts
Department store V&D on Tuesday scrapped plans to cut non-union staff wages by 5.8%.
The decision was taken following a court case brought by the FNV and CNV unions on Monday on behalf of its members. The ruling went against V&D, but the company said it would still press ahead with the move for non-union members. Of the 5,000 staff, 1,100 are union members.
However, V&D will appeal against the court ruling and wants to remain in negotiations with the unions. The wage bill must be lowered to stave off bankruptcy, the company told news agency ANP. It is impossible to compete with ‘newcomers to the market’ such as H&M, Zara and Primark, who do not have ‘an inherited history of high rental and wage costs’, the company said.
V&D earlier made an agreement with the owners of its 63 properties to temporarily reduce the rent. The company made a loss in both 2012 and 2013 and last week announced that in 2014 it lost a further €49m.
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