UK grocery chain Sainsbury's will be cutting 400 positions, and will alter working hours for 4,000 of its employees, according to a report by The Guardian.
As part of an operations revamp, the British retailer will be eliminating the price controller position within its staff hierarchy. Those affected will be offered redundancy or other positions throughout the chain.
The night shift in 140 of its supermarkets will also be scrapped, with those shift workers moved to early morning or late evening schedules.
A representative of trade union Unite, Julia Long, told the publication that, "This is very bad news for those dedicated workers affected by the planned job losses and Unite will be giving our members maximum support at this difficult time."
"We appreciate that Sainsbury’s has a good record of redeployment of staff in these situations and we will be exploring every avenue to ensure continuing employment for our members."
Business Review
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson commented on the situation to The Guardian, “We regularly review our business to ensure we are operating as efficiently and effectively as possible and our resources are in the right place, so that we can provide our customers with the best possible service.
"Following a recent review, we are making some changes to administrative roles and night shift patterns in a number of stores, subject to consultation".
Grocery chains in the UK have been struggling with the recent surge in popularity of ecommerce, discounters and convenience chains.
Rival UK retailer John Lewis recently announced it would cut 387 jobs in a restructuring move to increase efficiency.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Karen Henderson. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
