Metro wholesalers laying off 300 employees

The cash and carry company is leaving the Danish market altogether

Wholesale giant METRO Cash & Carry is closing down its last two remaining stores in Denmark at locations in Aarhus and Glostrup and laying off 300 employees.

According to the company, a deal with Euro Cater, which could have saved the employees' jobs, fell through.

Metro blames the Competition and Consumer Authority for not giving the companies enough time to finish the deal.

Too little too late
However, the authority claims Metro is totally misinforming the public. 

"The parties came to us very late in the process, and we told them that it was completely unrealistic to expect a decision before November 27," Agnete Gersing from the Competition and Consumer Authority commented in a statement.

The authority's preliminary investigation showed that a merger would significantly impede effective competition in the market and more research was necessary.

Leaving Denmark altogether
"We are very sorry that the case ended this way. We really hoped we could keep the jobs in Glostrup and Aarhus," the CEO of Metro, Charles Kay, said in a statement.

Metro, which opened its first Danish store in Glostrup in 1971, announced in September it would down its five Danish stores because they were no longer profitable.

It then proceeded to close three stores – Sydhavn in Copenhagen, Kolding and Aalborg – and lay off 400 employees.

 





  • How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    Being part of a trade union is a long-established norm for Danes. But many internationals do not join unions – instead enduring workers’ rights violations. Find out how joining a union could benefit you, and how to go about it.

  • Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals are overrepresented in the lowest-paid fields of agriculture, transport, cleaning, hotels and restaurants, and construction – industries that classically lack collective agreements. A new analysis from the Workers’ Union’s Business Council suggests that internationals rarely join trade unions – but if they did, it would generate better industry standards.

  • Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    The numbers are especially striking amongst the 3,477 business and economics students polled, of whom 31 percent elected Novo Nordisk as their favorite, compared with 20 percent last year.