French mail company to cut 1,350 jobs

France’s largest mail order company has announced plans to cut 1,350 job positions in four years as part of a reconstruction scheme to increase profitability.

On Thursday, Eric Courteille, the chief administrative officer of parent company Redcats, said that some 1,178 jobs will be axed from La Redoute in four years.

Courteille also said that a further 172 posts will go at the company’s delivery arm Relais-Colis.

A staff union official described the plan as “a body blow” because the restructuring plan would almost halve the company’s workforce in France.

“I’m flabbergasted at the number of jobs to be axed – even if they are being spread over time and compulsory redundancies are limited. There is also the question of what conditions those staff being kept on will be working under? It’s hard to take in,” the official stated.

Figures released in December showed that the jobless rate jumped in the third quarter to 10.9 percent from 10.8 percent in the previous three months.

French President Francois Hollande says his administration will reduce unemployment by the end of 2013.

Reports said in November that France’s economy contracted by 0.1 percent in the July-to-September period.

In an attempt to lower the country’s huge debt load, the French government has increased taxes and implemented several reforms and spending cuts. However, the measures have proven unproductive since the financial crisis in the eurozone has not been resolved and the bloc is still bogged down in recession.