SUPERMARKET chain Tesco has announced it will cut 9,000 jobs as part of a ‘simplification’ plan.
The company referenced the ‘competitive and challenging’ market conditions in a press release today announcing the measures.
Speculation about cuts and job losses mounted over the weekend, but the company dismissed rumours about scrapping bakeries.
Tesco employs more than 325,000 people across the UK and Ireland with many stores in the Coventry and Warwickshire area.
No stores have yet been identified for cuts.
The £1.5billion savings plan is a response to the rise in online shopping with 90 store counters set to close, the company says.
Chief executive of Tesco UK and Ireland Jason Tarry said: “In our four years of turnaround we’ve made good progress, but the market is challenging and we need to continually adapt to remain competitive and respond to how customers want to shop.
“We’re making changes to our UK stores and head office to simplify what we do and how we do it, so we’re better able to meet the needs of our customers.
“This will impact some of our colleagues and our commitment is to minimise this as much as possible and support our colleagues throughout.”
A spokesperson said: “Contrary to media reports over the weekend, we do not plan to make any significant changes to bakeries this year.
“Overall, we estimate that up to 9,000 Tesco colleague roles could be impacted, however, our expectation is that up to half of these colleagues could be redeployed to other customer-facing roles.
“We are working with our third party providers to understand the impact on their staff in our colleague hot food service.
“Media speculation over the weekend was premature and we have accelerated our communications to colleagues in order to reduce the significant uncertainty created by incorrect information.
“We will be doing all we can to help colleagues affected by these changes, including offering redeployment opportunities wherever possible.”
There will also be cuts to head offices.
Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers national officer Pauline Foulkes says: “Staff at Tesco are shocked and dismayed by the scale of yet another round of potential job losses, which clearly demonstrates the pressure retailers are under in the current very difficult and uncertain economic climate, as the cost cutting continues.
“With the British Retail Consortium estimating that there were 70,000 job losses across the retail sector last year, we need an industrial strategy lead by the Government, working with Usdaw and retailers to tackle the crisis on our high streets.
“This is devastating news for staff, who have played a crucial role in Tesco’s turnaround project, contributing to 12 successive quarters of growth, solid Christmas trading and over a billion pounds of profit.
“We will enter into consultation talks with Tesco, where we will examine the business case for their proposed changes. “In the meantime we are providing our members with the support, advice and representation they require at this difficult time.”
