With our support, the Leipzig-based Spread Group has a new works council.

What exactly is Spreadshirt anyway?

Spreadshirt (officially Spread Group) is an international textile company with its headquarters in Leipzig. It became well-known because it allows customers to have their own designs printed on clothing and accessories. The company exists for about 20 years and employs over 1,000 people worldwide. The customer service and sprd.net AG are located in Leipzig.

So what’s going on at Spreadshirt?

At the end of 2024, rumors were circulating that the entire  Customer Service might be outsourced to South Africa, which in turn would cause a major wave of layoffs.

In response, our Betriebsgruppe, which had existed since 2022 and was active in both Leipzig company divisions, decided to establish a works council. With this, all German business units are represented by a works council for the first time!

When the expected wave of layoffs came, and the Leipzig customer service team was reduced from over 100 to 70 people, the newly elected works council was able to ease the impact. In its first few months, the works council immediately pushed through a social plan for the layoffs that included double severance pay and a voluntary list. Priority was given to colleagues who could more easily cope with leaving the company. Without the works council, those with the worst performance metrics would have simply been dismissed – regardless of whether they urgently needed the job.

Founding the works council is a first important step toward greater participation and more
appropriate working conditions at the Spread Group.

By the way:

During the process of founding the works council, several of our members were terminated.

We are fighting back against this!

Stay tuned to hear more about Spreadshirt in the near future!