Around 350 people have been made redundant from Derco following acquisition by Inchcape

After Inchcape to complete acquisition of Derco in January 2023the company’s operations – both in the Chilean market and in Peru, Colombia and Bolivia – became part of the British automotive giant.

And more than a year after that merger, the administration of the new conglomerate has been implementing a sustained process of adjustment of its workforce. It is soTo date, the number of dismissed people amounts to around 350 employees, which represents 9% of the company’s workforce, indicated Paulo Rojas, president of the Dercocenter union.

The leader explained that during the last year there has been two processes of “mass layoffs”: one in April 2023, date on which approximately 154 people left, and another in April 2024, when 102 workers were dismissed.

Although he indicated that initially after the announcement “it was logical that this was going to happen” due to an issue of duplication of jobs in the new conglomerate, Rojas stated that the subsequent layoffs “have been more lapidary for the workers.” Indeed detailed that in addition to the two personnel reduction milestones mentioned above, other dismissals were added in specific areas, indicating the cases of 18 salespeople in September 2023, 60 external workers from the Lo Boza distribution center in February and 16 people in May 2024, processes in which “company needs” were argued.

Although the president of the union is clear that the CEO of Inchcape Americas, Romeo Lacerda, mentioned that there were going to be layoffs in the short term when the purchase became effective, he indicated that in the time that has elapsed since that operation “It’s been a pretty overwhelming process, and then during tEvery month the issue of whether there are layoffs or not has been very distressing, which means that the workers are very complicated.”

In addition, the union leader questioned Inchcape’s style of relationship with workers. “To date we have only had one presentation from the CEO, which we demanded,” adding that they have not heard from him since.

Company vision

In this regard, since Inchcape pointed out that the separations have taken place within the framework of Inchcape’s sustained expansion in Latin America and especially in Chile during recent years.

Along these lines, they added that – with the vision of leading the future of mobility in the region – the company is carrying out a process that ensures the sustainability and strength of the organization towards the future, which “requires innovation and changes in the way we operate, more in line with new global challenges, consumer expectations and new business models.”

In that sense, Inchcape stated that “among these changes is the transformation of some work teams.”

“In this context, and after an internal selection process, there has been a small number of separations. They are due to the formation of a new structure capable of better responding to the needs of the market,” they stated in relation to the reasons for the adjustments in its provision.