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No aid for Schlecker employees

March 29, 2012

Plans to create a special agency that would aid the some 11,000 people laid off from retailer Schlecker have failed, after critics said the idea - which would cost some 70 million euros - was a waste of money.

https://p.dw.com/p/14UtV
woman walking past a former shop of the drug store chain Schlecker
Image: Reuters

A plan to aid some 11,000 former employees of bankrupt German drugstore chain Schlecker failed on Thursday after negotiations among Germany's 16 federal states broke down.

The southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, where Schlecker's headquarters are located, had proposed forming a special employment agency for the some 11,000 staff who were laid off as part of the company's restructuring.

The former staff, most of whom are women, would become employed by the special agency and would receive close to their previous salary at Schlecker while they completed new job training courses. The funds would have come from unemployment insurance.

Winfried Kretschmann
Kretschmann blamed the pro-business FDP for the plan's failureImage: picture alliance/dpa

The plan garnered criticism from conservative states, arguing the estimated 70 million euros ($93 million) needed for the agency would have been a waste, as the German economy is already adding new jobs and the ex-employees would get assistance from Germany's existing labor exchanges.

Germany's Federal Labor Office said regular exchanges could give priority to Schlecker's laid-off staff, and that there are currently 25,000 vacant retail jobs around the country at other companies.

Baden-Württemberg's state premier Winfried Kretschmann placed the blame for the plan's failure on three states whose governments include the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) - Lower Saxony, Saxony and Bavaria.

"It was unfortunately not possible to get everyone on board," Kretschmann said.

Unions and states supporting the plan said the massive size of the lay-offs merited special state intervention.

Schlecker was forced into bankruptcy earlier this year, and administrators closed 2,200 of 5,400 branches in an effort to make the chain profitable again.

acb/msh (Reuters, dpa)