The latest layoff plans come from German auto parts maker Schaeffler and French food chain Auchan.
Thousands of job cuts are underway in several struggling sectors across Europe, with French food chain Auchan the latest to announce layoff plans.
Staff representatives, summoned by Auchan management, are affected: 2,389 of the 54,000 jobs in France are threatened. A dozen points of sale will close, including a supermarket and three hypermarkets, due to lack of profitability.
The company’s customers are not surprised. “There are often empty shelves,” says one woman. Auchan, one of the pioneers of hypermarkets – large points of sale on the outskirts of towns, very popular in the 1970s for the diversity of products offered – is today struggling to make its business profitable.
To modernize, Auchan plans to reduce its sales area by 25% on average for hypermarkets, which will no longer exceed 10,000 square meters. The company intends to focus on small businesses, drive-thrus and home delivery of fresh products: a “win-back operation”, in the words of Auchan management.
Meanwhile, German auto parts and machinery maker Schaeffler AG plans to cut 4,700 jobs in Europe, demonstrating the struggle of Volkswagen and other major European automakers. Businesses further down the supply chain are also seeing the consequences.
The company described the job cuts as structural measures against “declining automobile production in Europe and continued weakness in various industrial sectors.”
The structural measures, intended to “guarantee the long-term increase in the competitiveness of the company”, include the consolidation of production capacities and adjustment, which led to the relocation and closure of two of its factories outside Germany. These will be announced by the end of the year.
The job cuts will mainly affect Germany, where around 2,800 jobs will be cut across 10 sites. However, five other sites in Europe are also affected.
