Major staff cuts expected at Karstadt

Karstadt is on the verge of eliminating around 2,000 jobs. The German department store group is preparing to shut down 1,950 positions, but including part-timers, the actual number of redundancies should amount to 3,000, reports the German paper Handelsblatt, referring to a letter from the Karstadt Board of Directors.

The German chain recently shut down six of its stores, but according to the letter it is now also planning on cutting back a quarter of the workforce at its headquarters in Essen. The e-commerce division is also said to be subject to major reductions. With a workforce of around 17,000, this will mean an elimination of 20 percent of Karstadt staff. According to the letter, the management will begin negotiations on 12 November.

CEO Stephan Fanderl, who has been a member of the Advisory Board since 2013 and was appointed CEO last month, already warned that drastic measures would have to be taken to ensure Karstadt's return to profit, including major staff cuts.

Further to the earlier closing of six stores, the company is planning on closing two more in Stuttgart and Hamburg, another two K-Town stores in Cologne and Goettingen, as well as two discount stores in 2015.