Workers went on strike over pay at 23 of the 26 Ikea stores in France on Saturday, but forced only one branch to close, the Swedish retail giant said.
Management said some 500 of the 5,500 staff had not turned up for work on Saturday, one of the busiest days of the week, while the CGT union claimed almost 50 percent of workers took part in the stoppage.
Stores were picketed by strikers, but the only one to close was at Franconville in the Paris suburbs, where manager Claire Hery said there had been a threat of strong action by unions.
PHOTO: AFP
The unions are demanding a 4 percent pay rise for this year, while the company has proposed 1 percent across the board and another 1 percent on merit.
Catherine Bendayan, Ikea France’s deputy general director, said on Saturday there was “no question of going further” with the pay offer, particularly as turnover had fallen.
Bendayan said she hoped to maintain dialogue with the unions to resolve the strike, which she described as “a bit historic.”
The CGT union said there could be a pause in the strike yesterday, when employees are paid 225 percent of their normal wage.
The company reported record earnings of 21.5 billion euros (US$30.1 billion) for the year ending last August, up 1.4 percent, despite a fall in demand for its products.
Ikea, known for its flat-pack ready to assemble furniture, is an unlisted, family-owned company that employs 123,000 people worldwide and has 267 stores in 25 countries, with another 34 operating under franchise.
In June, it said it had slashed 5,000 jobs to cope with the drop in demand brought about by the global economic crisis.
Europe represents 80 percent of Ikea’s sales, while North America makes up 15 percent and the Asia-Australia region 5 percent.
Separately, Ikea said on Saturday it had fired two executives in Russia after they allegedly approved bribe plans to a local power supplier.
Ikea spokeswoman Camilla Meiby said the two — one a Swedish employee and one from Switzerland — were relieved from their duties on Friday after documents about the suspected bribes emerged.
“We know there have been bribes,” Meiby said, without giving details beyond saying, “We’ve seen the documents.”
She declined to name the power supplier allegedly involved and said Ikea was investigating the matter but has yet to report it to police.
The two executives worked as CEO and chairman of LLC IKEA MOS in St Petersburg, which commercially uses the name MEGA shopping center group, she said.
“We don’t think they’ve done this for the sake of personal gain,” Meiby said, without elaborating or saying how much money was allegedly involved.
Ikea Group CEO Mikael Ohlsson said he was “deeply upset and disappointed” about the case.
“Corruption is totally unacceptable for Ikea,” he said in a statement from the company’s headquarters in Leiden, the Netherlands.
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