Americans promise not to lay off en masse until March 19

Americanas, one of the largest retailers in the country, which entered into judicial recovery on January 19, with declared debts of R$ 43 billion, informed representatives of trade unions this Friday (3) that it will not promote dismissal in mass or store closures until March 19. This is the deadline for the company to present its judicial recovery plan to the TJ-RJ (Court of Justice of the State of Rio de Janeiro) and it was presented at the meeting with the union centrals.

“Until then, the company committed itself to communicating punctual cuts in advance to the union”, informed the Sheet Nilton Neco Souza da Silva, representative of trade workers in Força Sindical and president of the union of trade employees in Porto Alegre.

In addition to Neco, the president of UGT (General Union of Workers), Ricardo Patah, who is also at the head of the Trade Union of São Paulo, participated in the meeting with representatives of Americanas; the president of the Trade Union of Rio, Márcio Ayer; and the president of Fecomerciários (Federation of Commerce Workers of the State of São Paulo), deputy Luiz Carlos Motta (PL-SP).

On the company’s side, the people director, José Mauro Barros, the union relations manager, Lúcio Marques, and the coordinator of the personnel administration department, Joanna Pereira, participated.

According to the entities, Americanas already has almost 17 thousand labor claims, which together represent a debt of R$ 1.53 billion. Before the meeting, the union centrals promoted an act in Cinelândia, downtown Rio, in defense of the 45 thousand direct workers of Americanas. The retailer still has around 60,000 indirect customers.

“We have already filed a lawsuit to block this value of R$ 1.53 billion from the main shareholders of Americanas. We were unable to obtain an injunction, but the process continues”, says Ricardo Patah.

Such as Sheet revealed, Americanas started cutting personnel on the 31st, starting with outsourced workers. Since the start of the judicial reorganization until now, according to the company reported to the unions, 50 people have been laid off, including the team that took care of the telesales service. Other cuts made since then were punctual, informed the retailer to the entities.

In the rush to present its judicial recovery so as not to have its receivables blocked by creditor banks, the company did not include employees in the request. As a result, the amount due to dismissed workers cannot be included in the process and must be paid normally by the company.

According to Neco, a new meeting with Americanas, the unions and a representative of the Public Ministry of Labor should take place this month, after Carnival, so that the retailer can update the representatives regarding the judicial recovery plan.

“They said that, at the moment, they do not have data on how many stores would be closed and how many employees would be dismissed. They are studying it”, says Silva.

“They promised transparency and joint work”, stated Ricardo Patah.

questioned by Sheet regarding the meeting with unions, Americanas responded, in a note, that it will continue to comply with its labor obligations and that “there may be restructuring” as part of the judicial recovery process. Here is the full text:

“Americanas reaffirms its commitment to continue complying with all its labor obligations and with its purpose of preserving its recognized position as a reference in the retail market and in society. The Company maintains a close relationship with the unions and remains committed to a productive and appellant on labor issues.

The company also informs that it has not started any process of dismissal of employees. So far, Americanas has only interrupted some contracts with outsourced service providers.

Americanas is currently conducting its Judicial Recovery process, whose objective is to guarantee the continuity of the company’s activities, including the payment of salaries and benefits of its employees on time. The recovery plan will define what the company’s actions will be for the coming months and will be widely publicized as soon as it is finalized. As part of the process, it believes that there may be restructuring, but reiterates that it will keep the communication channel open with all its employees and stakeholders and its commitment to all labor obligations.”