Nearly 125 years after the creation of Casino in Saint-Étienne, the atmosphere is not festive in the prefecture of the Loire in the face of the major financial maneuvers caused by the group's debt. Two days before the annual general meeting of shareholders, economic actors, local elected officials and employees are worried about the turn that could take the largest private employer in the Loire, already fearing the disappearance of Casino's local anchoring.
4,000 to 5,000 employees in the Loire
After numerous asset sales to finance its debt, the distribution group still has 208,000 employees worldwide, including 4,000 to 5,000 employees in the Loire. Of these, about 2,000 work at the head office in Saint-Étienne.
For these and especially for the oldest who had already demonstrated against a hostile takeover attempt by Promodès in 1997, only one certainty: a new page is about to be written in the rich history of the company founded in 1898 by Geoffroy Guichard and from a simple grocery store - Geoffroy Guichard who gave his name to the stadium of AS Saint-Étienne.
This wealth is illustrated by the "exceptional deposit in recent years of 200 linear meters of documents classified historical archives by the Ministry of Culture," says Pierre-Régis Dupuy, director of the Municipal Archives of Saint-Etienne. No more than the economic actors or local elected officials interviewed, the staff representatives do not display a preference between the various candidates proposing to come to the rescue of Casino. Whether it is Teract, controlled by the cooperative group InVivo, the Intermarché group or the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.
See alsoDaniel Kretinsky triggers a battle for control of Casino
Preservation of employment
Their concern: "the preservation of jobs," says Estelle Silbermann, attached to the procurement department at the head office and secretary general CFDT Commerce and Services of the Loire and Haute-Loire. On this point, "we have no certainty despite all these actors who arrive from everywhere," she adds, stressing "the feeling of belonging of employees" to the brand.
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We have many colleagues whose couple, or even the whole family works for Casino, "abounds Guillaume Touminet, employee of Distribution Casino France, also CFDT delegate. For his part, the mayor of Saint-Étienne Gaël Perdriau explains "wish, in all cases, that any changes in capital are made for the benefit of the activity, development and dynamism of the company and its employees". The mayor asked to meet Jean-Charles Naouri, the group's president.
Services already relocated
Already, the head office staff has been reduced, services have been relocated to the Paris region and assets sold. Another unpleasant surprise: the abandonment at the beginning of the year of a project to operate a new warehouse of more than 60,000 square meters built in Forez (center of the Loire) for its subsidiary Cdiscount. However, Casino represents for the Saint-Etienne region "an important pool of executives", some of whom then create their own business, says Jean-Pierre Berger, the 1st deputy of the city, who worked there for 36 years. And "Casino is Saint-Étienne, so if the name of the sign disappeared (...), it would be a real loss for our territory," he adds.
Entering "the Casino", as they used to say, "to unload trucks", the septuagenarian ended his career as director of human resources and insists on his role as a social elevator. Nevertheless, the paternalism embodied by Antoine Guichard, the last leader of the dynasty until 2003, has since given way to much colder, even tense, relations between management and employee representatives.
Thus Guillaume Touminet and Estelle Silbermann confide to have been "summoned to interviews prior to a dismissal" after alerting in 2019 the Loire parliamentarians and the press on the risks related to the very high debt of the group. CGT central union delegate Ali Eloued announced to AFP "a rally in Paris on Wednesday during the general meeting of shareholders to express (the concerns) (of employees) on the sustainability of jobs and the revaluation of wages".