Children of casino employees ask Macron to save their jobs in Christmas letter

They say they are “sad” at the thought of the company their parents work for closing its doors. Two children, Yasmine and Amin, wrote to President Emmanuel Macron to question him about the fate of the employees of the Casino supermarket, while the group entered into negotiations to sell a large part of its stores, France Bleu Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes reported this Monday. .

“We need your help to save the company where our parents work. This is a special place for us and especially for our parents (we always have Christmas parties and love to come to the offices),” write Yasmin and Amin. Each of the two eight-year-old children from Saint-Etienne (Loire), where the group is headquartered, and Amiens (Somme), has one parent working for the Casino group.

And the boy and girl are worried about the fate of the supermarket and hypermarket. “This makes us very sad. Our parents work so hard to give us a good life, and if the Casino company closes, what will happen to them? – they ask themselves.

An important brand for families

Therefore, Amin and Yasmin turn to the head of state. “Please talk to the important people, explain to them how important the casino is to us,” they continue. For Abida, Amin’s mother, the casino is an important place for her two children, especially because of the gifts and activities offered to the families of its employees, especially at Christmas.

“Last year there were children who were able to spend a day with the Saint-Etienne team, the whole day on the official bus that came to pick them up from the headquarters. My sons were part of it,” she told France Bleu. “For them, Casino, these are all these advantages that will probably disappear, at least in the eyes of my son. This appeals to him. He says that he will no longer see his mother’s office, his colleagues, that there will be no more Christmas at the Casino. »

According to France Bleu, the letter written by Yasmine and Amin was delivered to the president last week through Renaissance MP Quentin Bataillon. “I know that he was able to deal with it and that this approach touched him,” he said.

Concerned employees

The future of Casino remains uncertain while the group is in talks with its rivals Intermarché and Auchan to sell them almost all of its stores. Representatives of the group’s 50,000 employees in France (out of 200,000 worldwide at the end of 2022) fear a serious social crisis as Casino said it was ready to sell almost all of its large format stores – hypermarkets and supermarkets – due to worsening financial health .

The group, which also includes the Monoprix and Franprix brands, said the brand change would affect almost 12,300 jobs as part of the proposed sale of 313 super and hypermarkets.

Employees, for their part, fear 6,000 job cuts. Moreover, in May Casino had already committed to sell 119 other stores to the Les Mousquetaires/Intermarché group. The group could therefore lose stores representing a small third of sales in France in 2022.

Last week, Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire asked customers of Casino stores to “save the jobs” of the employees involved. “They have made commitments, and I guarantee that those commitments will be fulfilled,” he said.