Thousands of workers from across continental Europe are this week expected to demonstrate outside the London head office and flagship store of Marks and Spencer.
The demonstration on Thursday, coming less than a week before the group is due to report its annual results, is against plans to pull out of continental Europe, closing 38 stores with the loss of almost 3,400 jobs.
It is likely to include M&S staff from France, Belgium, Spain and Germany, who are furious at the group's decision to pull out of those markets. In the UK, where M&S does not recognise unions, the Trades Union Congress is supporting the demonstration.
Unions have set up a solidarity fund to help pay for the cost of transporting demonstrators to London to put their case directly to Luc Vandevelde, executive chairman.
The handling of M&S's withdrawal from France provoked fierce reaction from workers, unions and politicians when it was announced on March 29th. Meanwhile, the French public prosecutor is still considering whether to press criminal charges against M&S's senior management for breaches of national labour law in its plans to close its 18 French stores with the loss of 1,646 jobs.
M&S has now had to go back to its work's council representatives in France and follow the worker consultation procedures required under French law.
