Cora closure: First redundancies from end of September

The first redundancies to come in the closure of Cora's seven hypermarkets in Belgium will be made on 30 September, according to the SETCa-BBTK union.

The announcement comes after consultations between management and trade unions, a month after Cora announced that the two hypermarkets in Brussels and five in Wallonia - along with all associated services – will close by the end of January 2026.

The closures mean the loss of 1,779 jobs.

Union representative Myriam Delmée said that while no real negotiations on a social plan took place at the meeting last week, the trade unions did receive more information on a number of sensitive issues, including how management envisages the winding up of activities.

According to Delmée, the hypermarkets will be restructured from 30 September. Non-food activities will be discontinued from that date, resulting in the first wave of redundancies.

“The question is how to ensure that the right people are in the right place at the right time, without forcing employees to leave too early, but also without forcing those who do want to leave to stay,” the trade union representative said.

Management said it will collect a list of wants and needs for each of the store’s staff, but unions fear management will simply let Cora go bankrupt if they are perceived as being too demanding during negotiations.

According to Delmée, the issue of severance pay for part-time and temporary workers was raised during the consultation.

Delmée said these workers often worked fewer hours precisely "to be of service to Cora" and should not now be penalised for it.

The same logic applies to temporary workers who have sometimes been employed for a very long time without being offered a permanent contract.

“We’re also asking for special attention to be paid to these people,” Delmée said. “But we’re walking on eggshells – we’re on a knife’s edge.”

The Mitiska real estate group, to which the management will sell the stores and adjacent shopping centres, did not attend last week’s meeting.

New meetings between management and unions are scheduled for 15 and 21 May. A meeting with the office of Walloon employment minister Pierre-Yves Jeholet is also planned for 12 May.