The Karstadt department store group has, with support from Seitz, achieved a breakthrough in its reorganisation programme. In the negotiations with the General Works Council and the ver.di union regarding a balancing of interests and social plan, Seitz, with labour law attorney Dr. Stefan Seitz leading the negotiations, was able to reach a compromise within the context of a conciliation committee.
Thus, a decisive step was taken for the continuation and further development of the economically distressed department store group. After intensive negotiations, solution mechanisms were successfully developed together with the employee representatives, which took into account the tight schedule for the economic reorganisation of the company while also allowing for the broad use of measures for a socially responsible personnel reduction. So, for example, opportunities such as semi-retirement and voluntary redundancy programmes as well as early retirement models were offered, and a transfer company was set up for all those concerned for best possible further qualification. Significant steps of the reorganisation concept including the closure of loss-making locations announced in November 2014 could then be implemented in order to endure a successful future for the traditional department stores.
By successfully concluding the balancing of interests and the social plan, Seitz again demonstrated that, because of the size and specialisation of the labour law team, the law firm is in a position to lead highly complex parallel negotiations regarding major projects with unions, general works councils and local works councils to their successful conclusion within a short negotiation period.
Representative Seitz: Dr. Stefan Seitz, Prof. Dr. Thomas Kania, Dr. Marc Werner, Dr. Jeremy Bister, Dr. Patrick Esser
Representative General Works Council: Wolfgang Apitzsch
Chairman of the Conciliation Committee: Martin Bertzbach