The union Verdi has called for thousands of workers to participate in warning strikes during the current collective bargaining round for the retail sector, beginning on Thursday. A major focus of these actions includes branches and locations of the retail group Kaufland, which belongs to the Schwarz Group.
Silke Zimmer, a national board member for Verdi responsible for the retail sector, criticized the company sharply. She stated that Dieter Schwarz is “by far the richest person in Germany” and that although his employees have helped generate his billion-euro fortune through their efforts, their own wages often do not cover basic living costs until the end of the month. Zimmer asserted that Kaufland makes the disparity between high profits and low wages particularly obvious: “It is incomprehensible to us why Kaufland does not share its employees’ success through fair pay increases.”
The strikes will affect various operations, including Kaufland logistics centers that supply hundreds of stores. According to Verdi’s plan, the demonstrations are scheduled to last up to 48 hours starting Thursday morning. The union warned that these strikes could lead to supply shortages and reduced stock levels within Kaufland stores.
During the ongoing tariff negotiations, representatives from Kaufland are participating in discussion tables across several German states, including Bayern, Berlin-Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. Zimmer criticized Kaufland’s influence, saying that due to this presence, “Kaufland holds great sway in the employer commissions and is responsible for the employers’ previously unacceptable offer, which involved zero raises and real wage losses.”
