HR staff at Asda face an uncertain future after the supermarket chain confirmed that it expects to cut 1,000 jobs as part of a review of its staffing levels.
A total of 185 management posts are to go at Asda’s main head office in Leeds and 15 at its second centre in Lutterworth.
A further four to five management positions are to go at each store, affecting 1,200 people, but the company expects 400 of these to be redeployed.
Asda, which employs 140,000 staff, said the cuts are part of “a number of wide-ranging changes designed to simplify, re-focus and re-energise the business for future success”.
Chief executive Andy Bond said that the changes were designed to “re-ignite our business over the next 12 to 18 months”.
“Whilst it’s the right thing to do for our business, we say goodbye to some great colleagues this week and I thank them for all they have done for Asda,” he said.
But Harry Donaldson, GMB senior negotiator for Asda, said the move was “nothing short of appalling”.
“How can a profitable industry like the supermarkets and a company like ASDA treat its workers as disposable items?,” he said.
“I call on Asda senior management to put a stop this treatment immediately. GMB will represent all its members in Asda and we call upon the rest of the workforce to join the GMB to enforce their employment rights.”
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Asda has recently lost ground to Tesco, the UK‘s largest supermarket. It has also been affected by a resurgence at number three supermarket Sainsbury’s.
